Blood Sacrifice
by Arkayne
Summary: SI OC She's growing up in Yuga but Konoha is where the things all happen, how can she get there and change the coming disaster? Unfortunately diplomacy is not in her skill set and she's got a future mass-murdering Jashinist at her side. Rated M for language and blood.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, don't own Naruto or everything wouldn't have gotten so over powered.**

 **A/N at End**

OOOO

"You're a little bitch like the rest of this damn pussy village!" Hidan jeered down at Akane who was once again skittering along the ground on her ass in the training field. Hidan kicked like a cannonball, even at the age of ten.

"Or maybe you're just too freakishly enthusiastic about kicking me down, you prick." And really, he was way too happy when they sparred outside of the academy, with no teacher to tell him to lay off a bit. Akane always got back up and faced up to her classmate time and time again though, she knew too much was a stake, she needed to be at least passably strong to leave the village and damn, she knew she needed to do this. And her taijutsu was her worst skill by far.

Hidan gave her all of two seconds to regain her footing before he was dancing towards her again, she managed to dodge his foot, block a strike aimed right at her face which made her arms judder and inevitably bruise, only to not be fast enough as his other foot swept under her and Akane was on the ground. Again. God damn it.

"Ugh whatever, you're obviously not gonna do any better tonight. I'm bored." Hidan unceremoniously span on his heel and walked away, no goodbye and certainly no helping her back up. Instead Akane lay back and stared up at the sky to catch her breath.

Ten years since she'd been, for the lack of better words, reincarnated into this world. Into the place of a story she knew well but into specific town of which she knew almost nothing. Only a year ago had she made it specifically into Yugakure and its Academy, to a place where she could get her bearings. Hidan had been her only clear signal of her place in the timeline, and damn he looked weird and sweet being so tiny with his huge violet eyes, but his attitude was already bad and he swore too much for his age. Not that she could judge, although Akane did have the excuse of being much older in her mind and spirit. Her first eight years in this place were strange to say the least, walking and use of her arms and hands came quickly to her but speaking, reading and writing took so long; she was so unfamiliar with Japanese and had never had any success at learning a second language in her previous life. Needs must though, and she had very little choice in the matter. Her 'parents' had seemed uncertain but, she supposed, that was of no consequence now.

Akane pushed herself to her feet and ignored each bruise that twinged as she made her way to her home. Already her second home in this violent world. It turned out Yugakure wasn't big enough to need a full orphanage, the town was prosperous and welcoming enough that the few children that were orphaned were taken in, either by willing families, or onsen needing young labour in exchange for a home. A elderly ex-kunoichi, whose own children had moved out, had taken in Akane when she had turned up at the Yugakure border tired, scared and devoid of supplies. They didn't quite feel like family, but they sure felt comfortable together.

"I'm home!" she called, following the scent of cooking into the kitchen of their small home.

"Akane-chan you're late again, I just finished eating!" Inoue-san was a kind older shinobi, long since retired from active combat, who right now was frowning at her charge, "You don't need to push this hard when you're still in the academy."

"Sorry Inoue-san." Akane didn't meet her eyes though and turned instead to grab some rice from the bowls by the cooker. The Yugakure shinobi, even the older ones who had seen war-time, were quite lax compared to what Akane remembered from the show she once watched. The Land of Hot Water had all but declared themselves a pacifist country years back and though they still has active ninja, their duties were more along the lines of keeping the roads safe and doing menial tasks around the country. They almost never left the borders and the worst fights tended to be bandits. Akane, though, was determined to be more, because she knew what kind of shit-show was coming and she didn't want to stand at the sidelines. Not knowing what she did. And so she sought out Hidan's company after seeing him the first day she joined the Academy, nearly a whole year ago now. He would become a monster in strength and skill in a matter of years and whilst he didn't seem to have his manic faith to Jashin yet, he was strong for his age. So she let him beat her down, again and again, because she knew that every attack she took without stumbling and every successful dodge meant one step to her being stronger. But goddamn did she hate every moment of it.

OOOO

Later that evening Akane sat on the end of her bed, rubbing ointment she got from Inoue-san into her bronze skin in the hope that the bruises would maybe look less vicious by morning. The last traces of the sunset was filtering through her window, casting streaks of orange onto her wall, distorted from the ever-present steam that rose from the many hot springs around the village.

 _One more day down just hundreds more to go._

Until what, exactly, she wasn't even sure but acting like everything was a countdown to something better, something more, helped Akane weather through her training and the restrictions that came with being ten.

She had so many plans and ideas with what she might be able to do when she was older, a ninja. And hell if that didn't sound strange to her very twenty-first century mind.

Akane twisted her pale, beige hair out of her way as she lay down to go to sleep. Sunset was late in the day here and she needed all the sleep she could get before another early start.

 _One more day down._

OOOO

"The onsen are the biggest asset of Yugakure, to both its citizens and shinobi. The income they bring is phenomenal from their numerous visitors, which in itself brings trade, some of whom set up permanent residency here..."

Akane sighs quietly and looks out of the window. Today afternoon lecture's focus is apparently the local economy and how amazing the onsens are. Like anyone around here needed to be taught about this; the number of foreign shinobi and citizens she sees around here are obvious. Using a pencil, and thank fuck brushes and ink are only expected for formal letters or fuinjutsu, she jots a note down on a piece of paper and crumples it up into a ball. She flicks her hand in what she hopes is a nonchalant manner but is probably like a blaring signal to her chunin class teacher, to throw the ball at Hidan who is sitting two rows behind her. Luckily it makes its mark and Yusuke-sensei makes eye contact with her but chooses not to comment.

Class is sometimes so boring. Lessons on anatomy and killing are endlessly fascinating to her in a morbid way. Battle tactics and lessons on political manoeuvres are enticing to the logical problem-solving parts of her brain. But economics, history (which is so biased here) and maths never cease to surprise her with how droll they are. Physical training is fun and challenging but equally troublesome to the side of her that spent a lifetime rarely moving much further than her flat to a car or bus.

As the lecture moves to specific details of how a Yuga ninja will be an integral part of the onsens and hotels, ensuring the safety of the customers in their country, Akane lets herself zone out completely as she continues to look out the window. All she sees is the ever rising clouds of steam enveloping the passers by, usually women in long kimono's escorted by stern looking men. One figure makes her sit up straight. Long white hair, unreasonably spiky and messy over a red jacket and feet in traditional geta sandals. He's gone within seconds and it was from a distance but Akane is sure that was Jiraiya. She had hoped that the hot-spring filled town would attract the Ero-Sennin but it had been nothing more than that; a hope. After almost a year here Akane assumed that maybe Jiraiya went to more obscure hot-springs to do his 'research' but it seems he had just been busy instead. Akane cursed her luck that she was in school. Her stealth was no where near enough to let her escape class. Well, hopefully the toad-sage would be around for a while.

OOOO

Her determined search of all nearby hot-springs as soon as classes finished proved fruitless. The perverted man was nowhere to be found. Not without her snooping inside of each of the baths themselves and all surrounding hotels, which would definitely draw someone's attention. Akane, disappointed, headed towards the river which wound through the edge of the town, in particular its widest point which was more like a small lake save for its steady current. The water was lukewarm, a mixture of overflow from the many bursts of hot water from beneath the earth, mixed with regular mountain-sourced river water.

Akane removed her shoes and sat by the edge, placing her feet near the surface. They hadn't been taught much about chakra but she had already been learning the basics from the clan she came from, before she had had to leave. Holding a handful of water and steadily imbuing it with chakra so it would stay in your grasp even as you turned over your hand was the first chakra-control exercise she had been given. To Akane, chakra was strange. It felt out of place in her body, always buzzing in her core. At close proximity she could feel that steady buzz in other people too. This difference from her old life, it's presence in everything and everyone around her, was so striking and yet no one she had ever mentioned it to ever understood what she was saying. Some of the more experienced shinobi could purposely focus on other's chakra and feel it that way but that was all. So far Akane had found her 'talent' was more of an annoyance than useful. Her range of feeling other chakras was small, only about three paces from herself and the first few years, already trapped in the body of an infant had been near maddening as she was overwhelmed by the constant foreign sensation she was unable to escape.

Focusing chakra down to her feet was simple enough, it was like pinpointing an itch but beneath her skin, but spreading it evenly and keeping the flow consistent was considerably more difficult. She had managed to get to the point where, though she couldn't stand on the water, the resistance had definitely increased and the water felt more like thick custard beneath her toes. Her attention was snapped as a pair of hands planted into her back and shoved her bodily into the water. Water trailed from her mouth as she surfaced, spinning only to see Hidan standing at the edge of the water sniggering.

"Hidan! What the hell man?"

"You usually fucking notice me when I'm like right behind you, bitch." Hidan looked down at her with a smirk.

"I was concentrating!"

Akane scowled and dragged herself back out, wringing as much water as she could out of her sleeveless top and long trousers.

"I was thinking we could try some chakra stuff for a change rather than just beating each other but if you're going to be an ass then I'll be just fine on my own."

"Aw come on Ake-chan, if you're wanting to do water-walking you'd fall in eventually anyway. I was just making you get wet faster."

They spent the afternoon competitively seeing who could get to their feet on the water first. Hidan's skill did not lay in chakra control, whereas that was one of the few things Akane had going for her. Rising to her feet in success, her smile was brief and a sharp kick to the back of the knee had her crumpling into the water again. Hidan was a sore loser. She stayed under the water this time and grabbed on on Hidan's ankles, which hung just above the water line, pulling him in beside her. The trail of expletives from the ten year old's mouth was heavily out of place and yet expected. Not much training was done after that point.

OOOO

Akane looked at her ceiling again and turned her head to look at the glass bottle she had kept by her bedside for the past year, one of the few things she had had on her person when she had been found by a team of Yuga-nin outside of the town. The red liquid inside sloshed dully as she focused intently on the bottle. Her eyes faded into a glinting red as the liquid in the bottle began twist and swirl. It was brief but the girl smiled as she turned to look back up at the ceiling, her eyes a dullish purple-grey.

 _One more day down._

OOOO

 **A/N: So this is my first attempt at a fic, or even writing. And an easy place to start is a good old OC Self-Insert-esque story. Yes there are tons of these already but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.**

 **Let me know what you think and bonus thanks if you can give constructive criticism- do I repeat myself too much? Is my punctuation wrong? Learner here looking for help.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Nope still not mine in any way**

OOOO

Akane weaved under the blade that swung towards her head and twisted her body low, placing one hand on the ground for balance as she struck her leg out at her attackers knee. It popped inwards with a sound not unlike the snapping of a tree branch, but wetter. She finished the bandit by grabbing his own blade from where he dropped it in favour of grabbing at his own inverted leg, and drove it down into the back of his neck.

To her right came laughter as she saw Hidan viciously kicking at his opponents ribs, seemingly not noticing the reciprocated blows to his own body. And to her left their teammates Hiro and Kaito were displaying Konoha-like teamwork skills, standing back to back, kunai in hand as they fended off two more bandits, covering each others weaknesses. Their sensei, Daichi was taking on another two bandits himself a little further down the road, swinging a staff at them with unerring ease, his ever present limp seeming of little hindrance to his skills.

The battle, their first real battle was over quickly enough. Akane and Daichi-sensei were the only ones to have given their opponents a swift death. Kaito and Hiro stood over their downed adversaries but seemed unable to finish up. Hidan's opponent was also on the ground, he straddled her and continued to rain down blows with his fists, still smiling. She wasn't even fighting back anymore but was still, if barely, concious. Akane grabbed the short sword she had used to finish her own opponent, pulling it from his neck joint with a crunch and plunged it down into Hidan's opponents throat. At this point it was a mercy kill.

"What the fuck bitch that was my fucking kill!" Hidan glared up at her with his blood splattered face.

"You're fucked up, Hidan."

She turned to the rest of her team where Daichi-sensei was standing next to her two teammates who had been unable to finish the job. But the adrenaline rush had ended and she knew they wouldn't be able to. Their teacher leaned down to the less injured one, who had Hiro's kunai sticking out of his thigh and multiple bruises forming on his face.

"Is this your whole group?" Daichi's tone was sharp and demanding but gained no reply. "Are there more of you? Just answer and maybe you can leave."

"This is it. This is all of us." The answer croaked from the other downed bandit, a middle aged man and the oldest of the group. "Let us go. Please."

How embarrassing, thought Akane, to beg for your life in these circumstances. And to a shinobi, the bandit should know better. But this scenario had opened Akane's eyes to the wide difference between a civilian bandit and a newly graduated genin shinobi. They were less than half the age of the people they had fought and yet they had won with little effort. In their first ever real fight, no less. As she suspected, Daichi leaned down with a kunai to finish both the survivors. She turned her head, having done and seen enough today. Hiro retched slightly and faced away and Kaito looked uncomfortable but watched with watery eyes. Hidan was watching avidly, one hand grasping his recently-acquired rosary.

As soon as all the bodies were still Hidan moved his gaze to Akane, eyes filled with petulant anger.

"You took my first proper kill, bitch. You fucking owe me something good." He stepped towards her one fist raised, the other still clutching the symbol at the end of the chain around his neck. Daichi's hand grabbed Hidan's raised wrist with a warning look, the boy backed down but Akane knew he wouldn't let this go.

"All of you grab a body each and put it ear that pool." Daichi gestured towards a nearby body of water created by a spring. She did as asked and let herself imagine she was just dragging a weirdly textured log. The bodies were piled up quickly in near silence, the metal on their bodies removed under their sensei's guidance and Daichi set the clothes of all the bandits on fire with a small tinder box from his hip pouch. The smoke mingled in with the rising steam in the air, the smell was nothing Akane wanted to remember. She moved away from the pile, to an area the smoke barely reached, pulling a dry-heaving Hiro along with her.

They stayed until the bodies were smouldering and almost unrecognisable as human. Daichi-sensei gave each of his students a once over but their wounds were minimal; a few cuts and bruises but nothing that really needed attention. He turned back towards the road, using the staff he had just clubbed to bandits to death with as his walking stick, alleviating weight from his left leg, still slightly twisted from an old injury of the Second Shinobi War.

"A successful first fight, I think. You all did very well." He tried to sound light-hearted but it was clear he didn't quite know what to say to a team of twelve year olds, one who had just made her first kill. "Let's get going then."

OOOO

 _Fear gripped her guts like twisted twine. She knew this was coming. This clan was so briefly glanced over in a side story. They had a tragic ending. She shouldn't even be here. These were the only coherent thoughts she had other than run. Leave. Unfathomable amounts of blood poured, on the ground, on the walls, on the people. She dodged, ducked and she ran. And she kept running from that slick, viscous, valley of hell. The blood surrounding her twisted and warped into the body of a man, leg bent and blade sticking from the nape of his neck, one hand pointing accusingly at her back as she fled._

Akane woke with a start, eyes red. Not just the iris but the whole eyeball, iris dark and pupil slit. It didn't take too long to come to her senses this time. A far cry from the first one of these dreams where her heart had pounded for near to an hour after she awoke. She sighed and swung her legs out of bed, it was only just dawn but she knew she wouldn't get back to sleep.

The clan she was born to in this life, the Chinoike, was a clan not touched upon until late in the Naruto series she had watched. Honestly it had felt like a side-story. Maybe not even canon. Trust it to be her luck to be taken out of her home by the woman who gave birth to this body only to show Akane around a very small, ramshackle town in a deep valley. The waters ran red around them and Akane had struggled back then to make any association between the place she found herself and the stories she once knew. When she had turned three her father had shown her a headband with an oddly shaped engraving, the metal dull with age and no longer attached to fabric. It was only then that Akane learned her place. It was only then that Akane remembered what would happen to these people around her.

Only recently had Akane's nightmare-memories had the final twist, her first victim. She knew she would have he first kill eventually. And her older, more mature mind had made her more ready than her teammates had been but that didn't mean it hadn't shaken her.

Akane pushed down her memories, nothing in her past life had ever prepared her for such a world as this. But she was adapting and she hoped one day she would feel ready. She had spent her final years in the academy considering her options and the best she could come up with was be strong enough to get to Konoha and warn them. That was it. The best plan she had.

Other options had included become strong enough to kill the bad guys herself, a laughable option considering her very minimal ability to take Hidan down every few spars. Or she could write everything she knows down and hand it to Jiraiya the next time she saw him in Yuga. But that had so many options to not work; who would take a random Academy kid seriously? What if they took it the wrong way and thought she was a spy? Or a seer of some kind? Or just straight up crazy? Nah that option seemed likely to get her killed. And whilst she wanted to help this world she also was selfish in that she didn't really want to die, again. A third rejected idea was to live her life as low-key as possible and just let things run their course. But that meant eventually huge wars and destruction. And whilst Akane could probably keep herself out of it all, her conscience would eternally berate her for not even trying.

Graduation had been a simple affair, the teams were assigned according to specialities and each had one more member that what she knew of the Konoha teams; a result of Yuga still having many ninja but less missions overall. She had learned that with each generation there were less people choosing to be shinobi in Yuga but even more so the country was taking on less missions, reducing down it's military force with the intent of becoming a purely pacifist society. Her team had been deemed the best attack team, all had either high taijutsu or ninjutsu scores and thus were put together to roam the roads with their sensei, clearing bandits and any other difficulties to allow safe travel to the town for all their clients and holiday-goers to the Hot Springs. Even then it had been weeks before they had faced any sort of conflict.

OOOO

"Akane-chan made good use of her enemies weapons during the fight, turning her opponents blade onto himself. So today I figured you all may be ready for an introduction into weapons training."

Here Daichi-sensei knelt on the floor, bit a finger and swiped it across a scroll he had unrolled. An assortment of weapons appeared, lain out neatly.

"My speciality lies in longer weapons. I used a naginata for years, but since my leg got screwed up about ten years back I switched to a bo-staff. It makes a nicer walking stick in between battles. If any of you are drawn to similar weapons I'll be more than happy to help. I know basics with swords but nothing too good. If any of you choose to take up a weapon I will do my best to find you a tutor in the tool of your choice."

The sun was beating down heavily through the steam clouds that drifted lazily across the training grounds. It had been a week since they had faced their first real fight, and only two days since they had returned to the village. Hidan hadn't shown his face since they'd returned, since Daichi-sensei had told them to take some time to themselves before restarting their training. Hiro, Akane and Kaito had gone for a meal together in the small river-side cafe but other than that they had all kept their distance, lost in their own thoughts.

Akane looked over the weapons, trying to imagine this scenario happening in her old life. _Here you go kids! Pick what you would like to use to murder people!_ She bent down and picked up a sword which caught her eye; a katana, very Japanese and it appealed to her older side which had watched so much anime. But as she lifted it, it was abundantly clear that it wasn't quite right, it felt too long. She put it down and looked for a sword that was more like the one she had found easy to take and reverse at the bandit – something shorter and straighter. This time she lifts a sword that fits what she's looking for.

"That's a chokuto, it should fit well with your slim build, at least for now."

Hidan had aimed straight for the bigger weapons, selecting the naginata, which Akane realises is the closest thing there to Hidan's giant scythe, most of the others are much smaller. Hiro is quick to pick up two daggers which sit comfortably in his hands. Kaito takes the longest, picking up almost everything before settling on a sword similar to Akane's but with a curve to its blade, but he looks satisfied with his choice.

The each stand before Daichi with their selected tool, uncertain what they were supposed to do next.

"Hidan, Hiro put your weapons back down for now and go and spar on the river. I will call you each individually. Akane, Kaito, since you both chose swords I will teach you together to begin with."

Hidan looked disgruntled but also a little amused as Hiro gave him a wary glance. Usually Hidan sparred with Akane unless Daichi specified otherwise, or more to the point Hiro actively avoided sparring one on one with Hidan, preferring to stand against Kaito or Akane. The two boys headed towards the river, in sight but still at a fair distance.

"Ok you two," Daichi began, picking up a sword for himself, "I'll start with some basic forms and stances."

For the next few hours they rotated between learning their weapons and sparring amongst themselves. Akane was happy with her choice but it was clear it would take a lot of practice to be able to use a weapon efficiently in battle. After less than an hour of holding the blade aloft her arms were weak and shaking with strain which made the changeover to sparring in a three way fight between her, Hidan and Kaito more difficult as she attempted to use mostly her legs to fight. Hiro was already semi-proficient with his two long daggers,using skills learned for kunai, Akane could she his dancing form from the corner of her eye, his long pale ponytail trailing behind him. This momentary distraction gained her a swift kick in the gut courtesy of Kaito who was in turn punched in the ribs by Hidan. Watching Hidan's turn with Daichi from the corner of her eye was worth the couple of bruises from her sparring partners. She could see the shadow of the tank he would become as he swung the naginata in controlled movements around his body. For a twelve year old he had considerable strength in his upper body, which would only develop as he matured. By the end of the afternoon, Akane had to draw Hiro and Kaito away from the river, no longer able to walk on its surface with her diminishing chakra reserves. By the time Hidan had finished his basic katas, their sparring was half-hearted with exhaustion. Daichi signalled for them to gather back together.

"Excellent start! I'll take your weapons back for just now, but a couple more sessions and I'll let you hold on to them, once I think you're not going to just jab yourselves or some poor innocent with them." he beamed at them, brown hair trailing into his bright eyes and Akane wondered, not for the first time, how such a cheerful guy could be a killer. "I'll see you midday tomorrow, I have patrol first thing in the morning. Dismissed."

As they all turned to head towards town, Akane planning to head home to Inoue-san and then out to her favourite onsen, Hidan's arm flicked and Akane caught the ball of paper aimed at her head. They had kept the same manner of invitation they had in the academy but she was a little surprised he had paper out at training. Had he had this on him all day?

 _Usual spot, sunrise, want to practice something new._

OOOO

 **A/N: And round two! Not sure if I should put a little more in about her old life or if it's chill how it is. Enjoying having a little creative outlet for my summer though. A bit of a pervy sage next chap and the beginnings of Hidan's crazy techniques.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto then I probably wouldn't be at uni, I'd be drawing manga.**

OOOO

"So you gonna help me with this?"

Akane looked down at the scroll in her hands displaying a familiar triangle within a circle, with writing around the image detailing the sacrifice of blood needed to link those who are faithful to those they wish to conquer. And damn, she's not sure about this.

"You want to try it out using _my_ blood? Do you know how easily you could kill me if this works?"

"Well I was going to trade for, like, helping you with your fucking messed up blood shit too. You know those _eyes_ you never use. Plus you still owe me for taking my fucking kill."

It was true that Akane had barely ever acknowledged where she had spent her first eight years of life. And that includes using her bloodline. The Ketsuryugan. Every time she used it she felt like it wasn't hers to use. Akane was an outsider to this world, she should never have been there that night that the clan destroyed itself. And she certainly shouldn't have made it out alive. She wanted to become stronger on her own merit, not relying on a power handed to her on a platter. But maybe she should. She was going to need every advantage she could get if she had any hope outside this village. Practising with her Dojutsu wasn't a bad idea, but practising with Hidan's ritual sure seemed like a terrible plan.

"Bitch! You even listening to me?" Oh, Hidan had been talking while she was thinking, "Don't look so fucking unsure, I'm not gonna fucking kill you in the middle of the damn village. Just help me. I'll just like scratch you."

After a little over three years of training with him through the academy and since graduation, she actually believes him. _Well, if he means it then I'll get a close insight into his powers, and if he kills me then none of this is my problem anymore._

"All right Hidan-kun. But if I say stop you damn well stop whatever you're doing, ok?" She's going to regret this.

Around fifteen minutes later they stood in a clearing where a small amount of trees and copious amounts of steam blurred them from the view of the village. Hidan leaned down on the floor sweeping his deeply cut hand across the ground into the Jashin symbol, large enough to stand in. Apparently the blood could be drawn in either the user or the opponents blood, it was only the ingested blood that really mattered. Raising his head from the complete symbol Hidan gestured for Akane's hand. She hesitated for a brief second but steeled herself and placed her hand in his. He used the kunai which he had used to cut his own hand and cut across the tip of one of Akane's fingers. He licked the beads of blood that appeared.

"This is weird for you too right." Akane drawled. Hidan scowled but she swore his cheeks had a little more colour than earlier. The rest of his skin had stayed the same, Akane thought the ritual should have changed his skin black with white markings. Maybe there was more to it than just the symbol and the blood?

"Shut the fuck up and stand a few steps away." She did as asked. "Ready?"

Akane nodded and Hidan stood in the exact centre of the drying circle on the ground, raised the kunai again and nicked it slightly against his arm. Akane twitched as she felt the sensation too but there was no visible mark on her arm.

"Did you feel that?" excitement crept into Hidan's voice, "No, wait you saw where I was cutting so you might be imagining it."

"I wasn't imagining pain Hidan! Jeez." She turned her back to him, hoping he'd get the hint. A second later she jerked as a much sharper pain jabbed into the top of her thigh.

"Hidan! Ow you bastard!"

She turned to face him again and he had an unsettling grin splitting his face. He pulled the kunai out of his thigh, apparently oblivious to the blood beginning to pool down his leg.

"It fucking works! But like is it just pain or actual damage?"

"Well it still hurts now when you've taken the damn kunai out."

"How about now?" Hidan stepped out of the symbol on the ground to see if anything changed.

"Nope still fucking hurts. So success right? If you're wanting to do anymore damage then go find a rabbit or something cause I'm good." Seriously though, Akane's heart was racing. Is this really how easy it was? No need for chakra or anything, a bit of blood and boom, instant pain and the ability to kill someone with ease.

"What about you Hidan? Your hand and leg are both bleeding quite a bit."

"Nah they're fine. Jashin-sama has been improving my healing ever since I learned of His glory. See?" And sure enough the bleeding was slowing. The rate it was sealing wasn't quite alarming but it was definitely quicker than most people.

"But your turn pink-eye. You have an idea how your eyes work?"

Akane only knew vaguely. She should be able to control high-iron liquids like blood but she had to imbue it with her chakra first. She had managed to move the iron filled water that she had in a bottle on her when she fled the Valley of Hell but that had taken considerable practice. Akane pushed some chakra into her eyes. Her vision wasn't altered but she could feel some kind of power and control wash through her body. She stepped towards Hidan placing her hand over his, close but not touching and focused on the blood pouring from his palm, doing her best to push some of her chakra into the liquid. After a minute or so she managed to make some cling to the foreign blood. She placed her hands into a Dog seal which she had learned at the academy was often associated with Water techniques, and blood was kind of water so maybe it would help. She pictured moving the chakra within the blood away from Hidan and into the air, eyes closing in concentration.

"It moved! Keep fucking going."

She felt out towards that familiar tingling sensation of her chakra, trying to focus on the difference in feeling between the chakra within her body and that which was outside, imagining sweeping it through the air.

"Woo!" Hidan's whoop of joy made her eyes open but her concentration slipped. The blood which had begun to trail in the air fell onto both of their feet and legs, splattering like fat rain drops.

"Maybe try keeping your eyes open?" There was no swearing for a change but the sarcasm in Hidan's voice was biting.

"Yeah yeah Hidan. I'm thinking it might work better with my own blood first, cause that's way easier to fill with my chakra."

"Fair. You got any bandages cause my leg is making a fucking mess."

Akane reached into her pouch which had basics inside- bandages, needle and thread, a few kunai, a few shuriken, soldier pills and tinder box – she never left the house without it, and threw half of the fabric strips at Hidan.

She sat cross-legged on the ground and drew her own kunai across her hand, flinching slightly but keeping her had steady so the blood would pool in her palm, restarting the process of pushing her chakra into it. For a second she felt a tingle behind her but she figured it was just the chakra pulsing through her body.

By midday, when the two of them needed to go and meet the rest of their team Akane had succeeded in making her own blood move through the air in basic manoeuvres but hadn't managed to get it into any sort of usable form. As it was right now she may as well just throw liquid into someone's face; it would do the same amount of damage.

Hidan had waited for the bleeding to stop before wandering off. He came back with a rabbit held tightly in his hands which he trussed up with the now unneeded bandages. He repeated the ritual, making the rabbit squeal in pain but each time he raised the kunai to himself for a killing blow he seemed to think better of it. Akane was doing her best to block out the sound of the small animal which cut straight to her chest, it had been her suggestion he practice on one after all. He stepped out of his circle and finished the rabbit by hand once he reached the point of heavy bleeding. He watched Akane practice instead, as he healed up. As the sun reached a high point in the sky they scuffed Hidan's symbol out of the dirt and headed to the training grounds.

"What the hell have you guys been doing?" Kaito exclaimed as they approached. He and Hiro were leaning against the fence of the training ground, both ogling the two as they arrived. Akane glanced down at her green trousers, splashed liberally with blood and then at Hidan who was drenched in the stuff. They probably should have cleaned up.

"Just training."

"By dancing in blood?" Kaito had one dark eyebrow raised, "Could you not have cleaned up before coming here?"

"Could you not shut the fuck up?" Hidan scowled. He wasn't very good at dealing with the other two on their team.

"It would seem my little newbies are already at it this morning," came their sensei's cheery voice from across the clearing. They turned to look at him to see two chunin walking either side of him. The one on the left Akane recognised as one of the team who found he on the roads outside the Valley of Hell the night of the massacre, he too seemed to recognise her, giving her a brief nod of acknowledgement. The man on the right was smiling at Hiro, who was reciprocating with a big grin.

"Good morning. Akane, Hidan you're both going to jump into the river at the end of the training ground as soon as I'm done talking." he had one eyebrow raised at their dishevelled states. "Are either of you hurt?"

"Cut on my left hand; bandaged, and upper right thigh pain; minimal." Akane listed bluntly.

"Same, pretty much," agreed Hidan, ignoring Akane's raised eyebrow since she was sure he had more damage than her.

"Ok, so long as you're happy to continue. These two with me are Ginko Ishii a kenjutsu specialist and Ryo Nishimura a dagger specialist. They've agreed to help me with your weapons training in their free time. We'll be splitting up and spreading across the training ground. Any questions?... Ok then. Akane, Hidan go now."

OOOO

A still soaked Akane stood with wobbling arms holding what was basically a large stick. With Daichi-sensei yesterday her and Kaito has been allowed to hold actual blades to get a feel for the weapon and make an informed choice as to whether they wanted to continue using them. Today they had been give a very much blunt replica to practice with. The first two hours had been forms and sequences practised side-by-side with Kaito. Ginko-sensei was blunt and didn't embellish his sentences with any unnecessary working, even though they had met before he made no comment on recognising Akane so she said nothing either. Now, she and Kaito faced each other doing their best to block, strike and get the upper hand. It was becoming clear as time passed though, that Kaito had more strength in his arms and was able to keep it up for longer. She must look pretty pathetic by now, her arms quivering like a butterfly in the breeze, hair and clothes still flat to her skin from the dunk in the river, the ever humid air of Hot Spring country preventing them from drying any time soon. Eventually the spar was brought to an end as Kaito struck her bokken with an enthusiastic strike and it clattered to the floor.

"Take a break." Ginko stated, turning to look across the field at the others training. Hiro and his brother-cum-sensei were sitting on the ground having a break, laughing amicably together. Hidan and Daichi were still at it, sparring with endless energy, Hidan looking a little worse for wear and Daichi looking far to happy to be beating on a twelve year old. Akane raised her eyebrows at the variation in her team before lying flat on her back to catch her breath.

OOOO

"Hey, kid! You have a second?" A voice Akane couldn't quite place but seemed familiar called down the street. She wondered briefly who they were talking to but kept walking, on her way home from the training ground, eager to change out of her damp clothes.

"Kid! Girl! Don't ignore me." The voice was louder and Akane felt a heavy buzz of chakra at her back just before a hand landed on her shoulder.

She whirled around to find her vision full of wild white hair. One of Konoha's three Sannin was looking down at her with a mildly exasperated look on his face.

"You shouldn't ignore people who are calling out to you, kid. Might miss something interesting." His voice is loud and booming and the man is tall and bulky, creating an overall intimidating figure which makes Akane take a step back even though she is almost certain he means her no harm.

"I don't usually need to respond to 'kid' or 'girl', I usually respond to Akane." she retorted, a little annoyed by his attempt at initiating a conversation but more than a little curious of what he wanted. He took her giving her name as a clear signal for an introduction, changing his pose to a ridiculous stance, legs far apart and one hand stretched out towards Akane's face.

"I am Jiraiya the most Gallant Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku!"

Akane raises one eyebrow at his antics but bows her head in greeting, not wanting to offend the one man she had been hoping to run into since she first saw him in the village, a feat she had never managed as the two never quite crossed paths at the right moment.

"Do you want something Jiraiya-sama?"

He resumes a normal stance and his gaze changes to something much more calculating.

"I was going for a nice morning stroll when I happened to spot yourself and a friend doing some training. That bloodline of yours is intriguing and unusual."

"I suppose it is to most people." Akane wasn't sure what the Sage was getting at, save for information collecting for Konoha.

"Are you getting training for it? Are there others from your clan?"

"If you are trying to get information, you aren't being subtle Jiraiya-sama. And no, so far as I know I'm the only one left." Honestly Akane saw no harm in just answering honestly, there wasn't much he could do and she was curious what he wanted to know.

"Hmm, come walk with me, kid." Jiraiya started to walk down the road, back the way she had come from.

"Actually, Jiraiya-sama, I was just on my way home to get a change of clothes. I've been training all day. Either say what you need now or perhaps we could talk another day?" She couldn't believe she was turning this opportunity down, but her clothes were really starting to bother her, and judging by Jiraiya showing interest in her and not the other way around she was hoping he'd be willing to reschedule. Plus, while her past self had know Jiraiya from a screen, it still felt pretty dumb to follow a random man she had technically just met, even if she knew a lot about him.

"I see. Well perhaps it would be best we talked when you had all your energy. We shall speak in the morning. Back here at nine, kid." He phrased the last part as an order and continued to walk away without waiting for a reply.

Akane scowled and headed towards home, hoping Inoue-san would be too annoyed at her being late for dinner yet again, and soaked through to boot.

 **A/N: So I have no clue how to write Jiraiya with any accuracy, if Akane was older he'd just be pervy, but she's twelve and even Jiraiya has standards. Hope he didn't come across too boring and blunt, not that the conversation was particularly long.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Do Not Own Naruto**

OOOO

The Northern border, where the steaming pools gave way to the cooling temperatures and rugged landscape of Shimogakure had been having a wolf problem as the bleak landscape pushed the hunting packs South. Daichi-sensei had taken this as an opportune moment to give his team a crash course in tracking, a skill Akane doubted any of them would have real talent in but was worth knowing a bit about. Sure Akane was getting better at sensing other people's chakras, almost ten paces from herself now, but the problem with tracking wolves is that they only had the natural chakra in their bodies and nothing more. Nature chakra didn't buzz and tingle in the senses like the pools of physical and spiritual energy of humans that Akane had become accustomed too. Trees, plants, animals, insects, even rivers all had a low thrum of energy but were indistinguishable from one another.

"The clarity of the imprint shows how recent it is, the depth gives a sense of the speed at which the creature was travelling; the deeper, the faster. Broken twigs, tufts of fur and scratch marks are all things to look out for on terrain where the footprints don't show, such as rocks. Of course wolves aren't trying to cover their tracks so they're much easier to follow than any human..."

Daichi-sensei had almost a full lecture's worth of information spilling forth as they tracked the wolf pack, and Akane was trying to pay attention, she really was, but the conversation she had with Jiraiya just before her team was called for the mission was weighing heavily in her mind.

OOOO

"Yugakure are soon to announce their intention to fully de-militarise. It's not public yet but it will be within the next six months. From there they have a one year plan to reintegrate their shinobi into regular civilisation."

When she had arrived at nine, Jiraiya was not far behind her. He had asked her to show him her eyes and then explain what they did, so far as she knew at least. He hadn't been deterred when she made it clear that she could move blood a bit and that was about it so far. Jiraiya had led Akane to a small cafe just opposite the towns most popular onsen. He had given little introduction or small-talk before launching into topics that Akane was quite frankly surprised he would speak of in public, much less to a genin he barely knew. She sipped on her tea, and nodded for Jiraiya to continue.

"When this happens it is expected that some Yuga-nin will defect and seek employment within their trade elsewhere. Konoha would be more than willing to accept shinobi who have the will to continue their career, so long as they would be willing to go through an induction period to ensure they will be an asset to the Land of Fire." Jiraiya paused here, his eyes trailing after a group of young women giggling their way into the onsen across from them.

"And why are you telling me... oh, you want me to move to Konoha?"

The realisation that Jiraiya couldn't be hinting at anything else struck Akane in the chest. Jiraiya was in Yugakure for a reason, Konoha had gained intel of the upcoming de-armament and he had been sent to scout for any potential shinobi to sway to their side. On seeing her kekkei-genkai Jiraiya must have thought he'd hit the jackpot; Konoha was renowned for it's considerable collection of influential cans with their unique bloodlines and she'd made it clear yesterday that she had no clan, no familial ties to Yuga.

"Your bloodline would make you more than welcome and you're still young so you'd have no trouble getting used to a new life there.." Jiraiya continued on with the 'selling' points of Konoha, as though he was advertising a vacation to her; safety, teamwork, and so on.

This was almost perfect. Akane had been a little dismayed at her location of reincarnation; wasn't she supposed to wake up in the middle of everything as an Uchiha or Sakura or something. Right in place to influence the important people rather than in a small country with more hotels and steam than functional shinobi or intense plot lines. But her mind strayed to Hidan. They weren't exactly best friends but she did wonder if her ongoing presence could make him more stable. Should she stay with him? One less Akatsuki member had to count for something and it seemed far more doable than trying to influence a whole Hidden Village, even if she did move to live there.

"How many shinobi is Konoha willing to take in?"

Jiraiya hadn't said anything while she thought and he didn't seem surprised by her question.

"Each particular shinobi must be assessed on whether or not their benefit to Konohagakure outweighs any inconvenience of taking them in. You want your team to come too?"

"Probably just one of them." _Hiro and Kaito might be better off staying out of everything that's coming._ "The boy I was training with when you saw us yesterday morning."

At this, Jiraiya frowned and looked uncertain. He had only seen the symbol the grey haired kid had drawn on the ground once before, but once was more than enough for him.

OOOO

Kaito was the first to spot the wolves, signalling to the rest of his team quietly. Now to attempt another skill they'd had little practice in: stealth. Akane channelled a little chakra to her feet to help muffle her footsteps and watched the boys around he doing the same, each crouching lower to make themselves less visible. There was little cover around – a few shrubs and rocks but no trees. They spread out as evenly as they could, forming a loose circle around the pack of wolves that were resting, eating and playing with each other on an open expanse of rock. Hidan was to her left, lips moving in a silent prayer to the rosary around his neck. Akane watched the wolves who still hadn't sensed them a felt a slight pang at their unsuspecting antics, wishing they could just drive the wolf pack north rather than wipe them out, but she knew that was only a short term solution to a long term problem.

Kaito, raised his hand once again closing it from open palm to a fist and each of the genin jumped forward, they had all opted for a kunai for this task. Surprisingly Hiro was the first to drive his blade into the side of one of the larger wolves heads before it had a chance to react, his expression grim but determined. Hidan and Kaito were not far behind with their take-downs either, already jumping over the first furry body to the next target. The wolves were moving now too, hackles raised, teeth bared and vicious snarls snapping into the still air. The darkest wolf, and judging by its greying muzzle, the oldest headed straight at Akane and she placed a foot solidly into its ribs before it could attack, at second snarl from her right warned her to a smaller wolf that had taken the opening of it's elders attack and she turned, kunai raised to strike. The wolf's eyes were full of nothing but instinctual threat, nothing like the calculated and determined gaze of the humans she was used to fighting. And that made her hesitate a fraction too long. The smaller wolf grabbed her leg and started to pull and in an instant the large wolf was pouncing, knocking her prone as she was unable to use her grappled leg for balance. Her breath pushed from her lungs as pain burst through her shoulder as the large wolf clamped down. She swung her arm up sinking the kunai into the side of the alpha's neck, repeating the motion twice until the pressure on her shoulder released. Clarity returned to her brain enough to notice that Daichi-sensei, who had been watching them from the sidelines was at her side, batting away the smaller wolf that had grabbed her leg. By the time she had gotten to her feet the rest of the team had already cleared the rest of the pack, the snarls, yelps and slick thuds of kunai hitting their mark giving way to a deceptively tranquil silence.

The pain in her right calf and her shoulder were distracting and intense. Akane had had training wounds before; bruises, abrasions and cuts but these were deeper.

"I need to clean and wrap those, animal bites can get infected so easily," Daichi-sensei said, reaching into his pack he always brought when they left the village. He slit the collar of her black t-shirt to move the material away from her wound. Luckily her pants legs were loose enough to just push up. The antiseptic liquid Daichi poured into her wounds burned almost as much as the marks themselves.

"I'm not good at healing, the shoulder puncture wounds may need stitches once we get to a medic."

As Daichi worked on wrapping her leg and shoulder Akane started down at the larger wolf she killed. She felt worse looking at the animal than she had when she had killed the bandits; and that was something she probably shouldn't look into too deeply.

"Akane-chan, are you ok? What happened?" Hiro was looking at her with concern, he had a small row of scratches on his arm but they were shallow; he must have almost dodged in time. Kaito glanced to look at her too before he bent down to begin piling the wolf bodies together.

"She fucking hesitated. Can't even kill a damn dog." Hidan growled as he walked past, dragging a dead wolf in each hand, "Didn't think you were so fucking weak, bitch."

"Fuck off Hidan, sorry that some of us have some kind of conscience," Akane snapped back, "Maybe I felt weird killing something that didn't even know it was doing something wrong, it was just living its life."

Daichi looked surprised at her response, Akane was usually more collected than the boys.

"But living it's life meant harming innocent travellers, and it's our job to prevent that." Kaito chipped in.

"I know Kaito, I know." She turned to look Daichi in the eye, "It won't happen again sensei, lesson learned," here she gestured to her left shoulder now layered in bandages.

OOOO

It had taken two and a half days to return to the village from the northern border, plus a little extra time taken to stop at an outpost where Akane could get her injuries checked over. The extra-deep punctures from the wolfs canines had been stitched closed to help them heal properly but the rest would apparently be fine soon enough. Inoue-san had berated her for not being careful and then wrapped her into an uncommon hug in the next second. Apparently seeing her adopted daughter injured for the first time wasn't something the elderly kunoichi knew how to respond to. Akane had tried to be around the house more over the next few days, she hadn't spent much time with her guardian since she had graduated. They had gone to their favourite onsen early one morning together and talked of the developments in the town, Inoue had her suspicions about Yuga's decreasing interest in its shinobi forces and whilst Akane didn't repeat anything she heard from Jiraiya to confirm, she did supply her own evidence that she had noticed; the small class sizes at the academy contrasting to the larger team sizes after graduation; less overall units for the Village to deal with and assign missions to. Akane spent the noon of their impromptu spa-day brushing out her caretakers hair and braiding it for her. It was horrendously domestic and Akane felt, whilst this could have been commonplace in her past life, her roughened hands in this life didn't suit so well to girly pastimes. The woman with her grey-streaked dark hair turned to Akane to return the favour, putting the girls beige hair into a tighter braid than her own, knowing that Akane had training in the afternoon.

"If the village does de-militarise would it be wrong for me to continue being a shinobi elsewhere?"

Akane had her back to her guardian so she couldn't see her expression.

"I think you should do whatever you think is right for you." A diplomatic and very motherly answer.

"But wouldn't it basically be defecting?"

"Perhaps, but not out of disloyalty or betrayal. It would be an acceptable response to a village which no longer provides what you need."

Akane thought on that as Inoue finished her hair. She didn't feel too attached to the village as a whole, and she knew there was so much more of the Elemental Nations she wanted to see, but years in the academy had at least a little impact. The messages of village loyalty were drilled in from your fist day at school here.

The hands in her hair brought back memories from another life; not of a mother but of a sister running hands through hair of a very different colour. Her old life didn't have al these concepts of loyalty and belonging. If you moved to a new city it wasn't a betrayal of where you came from, it was just a new step, new opportunities. And she had been given an opportunity by the large white-haired man who spoke of upcoming change in her village but she was still held back by the thought of a boy with grey hair. Hidan would defect soon, and if she remembered rightly he was going to kill a bunch of Yuga-nin on his way out causing Yuga to hire Akatsuki to kill him. But if he didn't kill anyone before leaving they would have no need to send the cloud-cloaked hunters after him and maybe he could live his life how he pleased under his own volition. So great, she just had to convince him that, yeah she helped him learn his ritual and she's going to defect too, but maybe not kill people on the way out? It's worth a shot.

 **A/N: So I'm playing around with canon a bit; Yugakure doesn't actually fully de-militarise (I think) and I want there to be some knowledge of Jashinism beyond Hidan so Jiraiya could recognise the symbol. Please let me know if I've missed something obvious or anything needs clarifying :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: The base story of Naruto is nooooot mine.**

OOOO

Hiro had gotten damn annoying with those little blades, his brother was a good teacher for him. Akane jumped back, barely leaning to the side in time to duck under Kaito's blade which arced over her head, its edge already slick with blood from where Hidan hadn't moved fast enough. Her left hand slipped into her hip pouch to fling three shuriken at her two opponents, trying to give herself some space to move. These two had shown signs of teamwork from their very first battle and it had only gotten more troublesome to fight against as time had passed. Only one shuriken hit its mark, cutting a small line into Kaito's arm and Akane smirked, pushing her left fist out into the air towards the boy, propelling a pulse of chakra towards him, her eyes bleeding into red. Hidan saw her actions and leaped away from Hiro who had turned his attention to the Jashin-follower instead of their female teammate. Hidan gave the lighter boy a sweep under his legs, making him hit the ground and giving Hidan the critical few seconds he needed to draw the symbol beneath his feet with the blood from his injury courtesy of Kaito.

Akane's chakra pulse did no damage but instead sunk through Kaito's skin, feeling out for his blood. She could only control small amounts at once but it was enough to guide her chakra out of the small cut her shuriken had made, dragging a small glob of the dark-haired boys blood with it. She streaked the liquid through the air towards Hidan, whose arm was up to catch it. He wasted no time licking it from his hand, smirking at Kaito. White marks trailed across Hidan's skin, and though the rest of his skin had stayed pale the marks were becoming more defined every time he used the ritual. Akane moved her attention from Kaito to Hiro, who had been regaining his feet in order to retaliate at Hidan but was now lowering his blades, having been too slow to hit his mark before the other boy had ingested the blood. Hiro turned to meet Akane's strike, though wincing in sympathy for his partner as he saw Hidan plunge a kunai into his stomach. It was a matter of seconds before Kaito fell to his knees, unable to tolerate the same levels of pain as Hidan who was smiling as he flicked the end of the kunai protruding from his stomach, making the metal jolt.

Hiro was faster than Akane but she had been working on flexibility and dodging, and her chokuto had a longer reach than his daggers. He'd succeeded in cutting her forearm as she tried to block an advance but had managed a fairly deep cut on his thigh in retaliation. Surprise crossed Hiro's face as he was suddenly flung forwards towards Akane, who only just managed to get her blade out of the way so she didn't run the blade through her teammate. Hidan stood in the boys place, one foot still raised from the hefty kick into Hiro's back. Hiro stayed down, winded, signalling an end to the fight.

"Hiro-kun remember to stay aware of your surroundings even while focusing on your opponent. Hidan-kun did what any enemy would do in a real fight, gaining advantage from your overly-focused mind which leaves you open to surprise attacks."

Daichi-sensei looked proud as he approached, followed closely by Ginko-sensei and Ryo-san. These sparring matches had become a monthly occurrence with all three of their sensei around to watch and keep updated on the skill of the team.

The reduction of missions had been prominent over the past six months and Akane was bracing for the village meeting to announce de-armament which was approaching any day now. The plus side was that both her team and the two extra sensei had had extra time to throw into their training. They had all met almost daily to hone weapon skills, four months ago their teachers had deemed them skilled enough to carry their own blades permanently. Akane had taken up copious meditation to increase her chakra-sensitivity. She was still pretty sure that she had an unfair advantage in this field due to her past life of no chakra which resulted in her possibly being the only person to sense chakra as something that shouldn't be there, making her all the more aware of it's presence. Passively she could feel the buzzing of the chakra of most people in sight unless, as she had found with some civilians, their chakra was so small it was hard to notice from a distance. Some of the higher-up Yuga-nin who had learned to suppress their chakra had a similar feeling and so could only be felt at a closer distance. She had yet to come across anyone she couldn't sense at all though.

She and Hidan had regularly worked together on their blood-based techniques. Until now Akane would never have said she believed that Gods were real. But with each use of the ritual, each prayer made before a fight during missions, Hidan grew stronger, he healed faster and survived more ruthless self-inflicted wounds. It had done much to make Akane question what she thought was real, even here is this strange place where an obscure force they called chakra seemed like nothing short of magic compared to her original world.

Her own bloodline continued to baffle her, she could use her own blood fairly well as a weapon now, elongating it into senbon-like parts or strings designed to entangle. She could increase its volume; a drop of her blood could expand to around the size of her fist and so long as the blood was removed with her own chakra she didn't seem to feel the effects of blood loss. She wished vaguely it worked more like the Kaguya bloodline; an endless supply of bone which never left their body lacking; imagine if she never could bleed out. The first time she attempted a genjutsu while her dojutsu was activated she hadn't even know exactly what it was going to do but her target, Kaito, had gotten so tired he almost fell asleep where he stood, seeming to forget where he was. The drawback was the sheer chunk of chakra the technique used as genjutsu wasn't something she had ever practiced.

Each new thing she did with her bloodline was a result of experimentation, curiosity, vague memories of a show watched long ago and a little bit of instinct. She figured by now her and the boys on her team must be about ready to become chunin but it had been declared only a week ago that Yuga would not be attending the upcoming exams in Kiri, though judging by the location Akane couldn't say that she was completely disappointed.

OOOO

The call was finally given for all shinobi of Yugakure to gather around the main administration building. Yuga didn't have an official Kage, more of a village leader. The man now stood on the roof of the building as all the ninja gathered around, muttering to one another about what was happening. Few were certain but most seemed to have some knowledge of what was about to be announced. It occurred to Akane that she had never seen all of the villages ninja in one place and the effect was lacklustre, the grand total could not have been anymore than fifty from the youngest genin to the oldest jonin. Many looked like they hadn't seen any true combat for years; their stances lax and figures unconditioned.

The speech started like almost every talk she and Hidan had sat through at the academy, mentioning the pride of the village, the friendship they offered to visitors. They'd heard it a hundred times and Akane felt Hidan shift next to her with impatience. The next line from the leaders mouth ceased all jittering in the crowd, even those who had expected it stilled at hearing the statement from an official mouth.

"It has been many years of deliberation, years of building up our reputation of peace, prosperity and a welcoming retreat for those of all nations. With the agreement of the Five Nation's Kage and Daimyo the Village of Hot Springs has chosen to dissolve it's status as a Hidden Village and will assimilate itself into the Civilian Courts."

Outrage burst among the shinobi after a heartbeat of silence.

"Years! Years of service!"

"That's it? Just off you go?"

"Fuck this!"

Around ten shinobi had left as soon as the statement was declared, an even smaller group stepped forward; one by one they drew a kunai across their headbands and stormed away together, fury in their eyes as they looked up at the man who spoke for the village. The man who was now raising him arms for quiet. The smaller crowd fell into a much more unsettled silence waiting for what else the man was going to say.

"This process will not be instantaneous. Over the next year shinobi teams will be integrated into suitable occupations and compensated for any losses or hardships caused by the choice of the Village..."

He went on to give more details but Akane knew she didn't need to hear it all, the past sixth months since Jiraiya had first approached her she had plenty of time to decide what she wanted to do. She turned to face Hidan who was uncharacteristically quite and a flicker of fear passed through her chest as she wondered if he was about to go mad right here right now, killing people in his outrage at their weakness. But he didn't, he glanced back at her, jerking his head towards the nearby cliffs, and turned away, knowing she would follow.

OOOO

"This stupid fucking pussy ass village. Getting rid of all their fucking ninja! That's just asking to be slapped around like a little bitch! Nah fuck this shit, I'm going. I'm out! Like fuck I'm gonna stick around in some shitty little fucking weak village..."

Here was the anger Akane expected, Hidan was pacing behind her back as she sat with her legs dangling off the cliff-side overlooking the village. His rant had gone on for a couple minutes now and she didn't interrupt, just nodding along allowing him to vent. Eventually he noticed her silence and flung himself to the ground next to her.

"This has been coming for a while Hidan, we've barely had any missions for months, just routine patrols along the roads." She paused, well it was now or never, "Six months ago a man from Konoha told me his suspicions that this was coming, he said Konoha would be willing to take in shinobi who want to stay shinobi. Konohagakure has a strong reputation across the nations."

"So you're gonna leave?"

"Not straight away, there's still a whole year before the final switch over. If Daichi-sensei and Ginko-sensei are staying I may as well continue training with them. _We_ may as well continue training with them. The stronger we are the more likely another village will let us join their ranks and we've only just turned thirteen, we don't want to come across as some needy kids turning up at the gates of another nation."

"Yeah but another fucking year in this pussy ass village with probably no fucking missions." Hidan sounded truly disgusted.

"Maybe not the whole year but there is no point marching out right now before we have any kind of plan. The point I'm trying to get to is; is it _we_ or is it _you and I_ , Hidan?"

She honestly had no idea what his response would be. They made a good team, their fighting styles worked well together and they had know each other for four years now but he wasn't an emotional or even particularly nice person, he sought out her company every so often but little else. He could easily have no interest in continuing to associate with her. And on top of that she wasn't even sure what her own motivation was – keep the strong immortal guy on her side or keep a friend by her side?

Hidan had sat in thought just as much as she had after that question, but when he spoke it wasn't an answer, just more questions.

"Why didn't they just let us fucking ninja become like self-ran business or some shit? Like we take our own missions from other countries or whatever? How the fuck am I supposed to get sacrifices for Jashin-sama in this pussy village? Maybe I don't even want to join another fucking village, maybe they're all just shit. You think the others will stay? I bet Hiro will, he's good with a knife but he's such a little bitch the rest of the time..."

And on he went, not quite ranting as he did earlier but thinking through everything out loud, once again on his feet and pacing behind her. She didn't even know he could have this many thoughts without an aneurysm and she told him so.

"Fuck you bitch! Whatever we'll meet with the others tomorrow see what they think of this shit. You were right about one thing, no point in just marching out right now."

Akane turned her head to look at him and barely caught the balled up paper he tossed to her. She uncrumpled it.

 _It's we._

She lifted her head to smile at him to find that he'd already left. Looking back out across the village which was bathed in the low sunlight she smiled to herself instead. Her first success at changing something – Hidan was still crazy, foul mouthed and bloodthirsty but he cared at least a little bit about her.

OOOO

 **A/N: The end felt cheesy but whatever. Hidan has a messed up relationship with Kakuzu that seems to have some kind of underlying...affection? Whatever. A friend at a young age who doesn't freak out at your messed up religion and techniques is gonna have some kind of impact.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimero: Noto mineo**

OOOO

"I am glad to see you all here, to be honest I wasn't totally sure who would come." Daichi-sensei stood before his small group, Ginko and Ryo stood to one side and the young teens stood in a line before him. The jonin was still wearing his jacket but his headband was nowhere to be seen.

"Team Daichi is officially disbanded. But I have no plans to leave just yet, I will be here at noon on any day I am free and as an offer, not a command, I ask that you continue to join me," the man was considerably less cheery than usual, his voice serious as he looked at each of them in turn, "I spent my morning going to the admin office and talking to those I have know these past years. Missions are to be requested in person should you wish for one, either individually or a team."

Akane glanced at the others, Kaito still wore his headband, his face was serious and his stance rigid. Neither Hiro, Ryo-sensei nor Ginko-sensei wore their headbands, her and Hidan both still had theirs on. For Akane it was mostly habit, it hadn't even occurred to her to signal her discontent with the Villages choice by not wearing it.

They could choose their own missions? Surely who took what was still being regulated though, even with the villages focus on new things they wouldn't be reckless enough to let fresh genin take any mission they wanted? Though maybe they wouldn't have much choice, many of the older shinobi had left during the speech or earlier that morning. Many more would probably refuse to take missions in their anger.

"For today though, I suggest we discuss options. You are all young and it can be difficult to know what to do next, but remember that there is a whole year from now to get things ready."

"Er well sensei," Hiro started, glancing at his brother, "I already spoke to my parents last night and, well we own a shop down the street, you know the blacksmiths? And yeah I think I'm just going to learn the trade under my father."

"If this is what you want to do then there is no shame in it, Hiro-kun."

"Tch, told you he'd pussy out." Hidan snarked in Akane's ear, barely even trying to lower his voice.

"There is nothing weak about choosing a new path, watch your mouth," growled Ryo in defence of his little brother. Hidan just raised an eyebrow at him and turned back to Daichi.

"Well if you're still training, then I'm still learning. For now." Hidans tone wasn't polite but at least he didn't swear, it was the smallest sign of respect for their sensei.

For an hour or so they discussed what was going to change in the village, Daichi gave his opinions on what he believed his young genin should do and they let Hiro justify his own choice a little more, ignoring Hidan's jibes. Akane turned to Hiro's brother.

"What about you Ryo-sensei?"

"Well," he glanced at Ginko briefly, "I'll be around for a while yet but I don't think I'll be joining my family's business. I'm not totally sure what the plan is just yet."

Kaito was the most uncertain through all the conversations, his family were civilians but he had always wanted to be a ninja from the youngest age. It was going to take him a while to decide.

"I think for today we shall leave it here. Hiro-kun you may continue to meet us here even if your mind is made up."

Akane fell into step with Hidan as the younger genin headed away from their sensei – the three men had remained, sitting on the ground together to continue discussing things. Hidan had brought his naginata with him today, much as she had brought her chokuto, both expecting a regular training session.

"So you want to go train or go see what missions there are actually are?"

"May as well go get a mission, I could do with getting out of this dumb fucking village for a bit."

"Yeah me too, come on then."

The Administration Office was busier than usual but only a handful were people going to the mission desks, the majority were clustered around the village leaders office door, waiting their turn to make a complaint. Akane and Hidan waited for the three chunin in front of them to be finished getting briefed on their task before they steeped forward to the flustered man behind the desk.

"So err... how is this going to work now?" Akane felt silly and unsure starting like this but honestly she had no clue what she was doing. Hidan snorted at her ungraceful start and she dug a pointy elbow into his ribs.

"Just tell me your names and rank."

"Akane Chinoike and Hidan … erm." Wait why didn't she know this?

"Just Hidan. Both Genin." The grey haired boy finished.

 _What the hell, who doesn't have a surname?_ Akane wondered, Hidan had never mentioned parents and she knew he lived with an adoptive family, like she did, but wouldn't they have just given him their surname if he didn't know his?

The desk-guy flicked through some folders behind him, bring two out.

"Ok, Akane-san, Just-Hidan-san, looks like you're pretty capable for genin, though judging who your sensei is – was – it's to be expected. We have a few in village manual jobs for different onsen and the village gate needs cleaning after some of the defectors defaced it before leaving."

"What about outside the village?"

"You guys sure? Going out for the first time with a much smaller team might not be - "

"We're fucking sure can you just give us something?"

The man raised his eyebrows at Hidan's tone but grabbed a file from his tray and handed it to them.

"Well fine, good-old patrol duty, check-in at the first outpost in three days."

Hidan turned to leave without saying anything, folder under his arm. Akane gave a quick bow and thanks before following.

OOOO

The first time Hidan lost a limb they both freaked the hell out.

It was their third patrol on their own. The first two had been so dull that they had probably gotten too lax. Akane had barely felt the buzz of chakra to her left before a katana swung through the bushes and Hidan had reflexively raised an arm to protect his face. The arm now lay on the ground and Hidan was making a loud unsettling combination of laughter and a scream as he looked at his own limb on the floor.

Akane had her sword out and faced the attacker as quickly as she could.

"Two little baby-nin out for a stroll. Yuga doesn't deserve any loyalty! Those who stayed with that betrayal of a village need to be put down!"

The woman wore a Yuga headband with a clear slash through its symbol, a defector. She looked unkempt and wild, long pale hair tied up messily and dirt streaked on her clothes. She clearly hadn't had much luck on the road since leaving Yugakure.

Akane didn't reply, just blurred into action, swinging one leg low and arcing her blade towards the woman. Hidan, grimacing and eyes wild but still alert, raised his naginata. Luckily his dominant hand was intact even if he would be much less dexterous with the weapon.

Their opponent laughed, obviously finding the sight of the two much younger nin amusing. She darted forwards under Akane's moving blade, aiming for the girls calves. Akane jumped just in time, landing at the woman's back, effectively putting the woman in-between her and her teammate. Hidan became a blur of legs and long-reaching naginata, a trail of blood splattering around with his movements, putting the kunoichi on the defensive, backing her towards Akane once again. Akane herself swept her leg across the blood covered ground, pushing chakra out of her foot as she went, activating her dojutsu. She swept her left arm into the air and the blood darted upwards in thin spikes, several piercing through the defectors feet.

The woman cursed and leapt to one side trying to stop being pinned between the two genin, wincing as her feet touched down. A sudden jerk at her ankle made her lose her balance and in that fraction of a second the blade of a naginata was thrust into her throat. As the woman fell her last sight was a detached arm clamped around her ankle.

"Holy fucking shit!," Hidan laughed loudly, "I can fucking move it, fuck yeah."

Akane looked down at Hidan's arm, it released the woman's ankle and waved at her. Never had Akane felt quite so much that this world couldn't be real, it was too bizarre. But now was not the time to think about that too hard.

"Ooookaayy," she breathed out, "We need to reattach it."

"No shit, but neither of us are medics."

"You heal so fast maybe it can just sort itself out?" Akane had no idea how Hidan's powers worked. In the show she had seen Kakuzu just stitch the outside of the pieces together and it seemed to work. She reached into her hip pouch and took out her needle and thread, usually used to fix clothing on the road.

She leant down to pick up Hidan's arm. As she did the woman on the ground made a wet choking noise through all the blood pouring from her throat and mouth and Akane stepped back, startled.

"I call it!" Akane raised a brow at Hidan's messed up enthusiasm as he instantly started to use the woman's own blood to draw the Jashin symbol on the ground. Instead of ingesting blood and hurting himself, Hidan dragged the body into the circle and then began to push his foot down onto the woman's ruined throat using his one intact arm to hold his rosary to his mouth and mutter a prayer. Less than a minute later the woman stopped making any noises and Hidan leant down briefly to check she was dead.

"Don't get to send a direct sacrifice very often," he said looking at Akane with a smirk before approaching her with his stump outstretched.

"This is so gross, Hidan," Akane stated bluntly, as she lifted Hidan's disconnected left arm, pulling the boy down into a sitting position as she rested the end of his stump on her knee and tried to line up the two pieces.

"Hold it still with your other hand."

It took a few minutes to stitch it tightly so the arm wouldn't flop around. Hidan strung together some mildly impressive expletives as she wove the needle in and out of his skin. When she was done she got him to move his arm around in different directions.

"Does it feel ok?"

"Yeah I think so, thanks bitch! Fuck that needle and thread though, could we not just tape it or something?"

"I don't think tape would hold."

"Might."

Hidan put his weapon on his back and she sheathed her own. She glanced around briefly wondering if other shinobi constantly leave this much blood behind after a battle but shrugged as they continued. They were supposed to be at the next out-post in a couple hours.

OOOO

Daichi Ikeda watched the backs of his students as they walked away, Hiro and Kaito going their separate ways and Hidan and Akane side by side, like usual. He felt bad for them, bad for the decisions their village had made, bad that so early in their shinobi career it was getting torn away, making them decide what they wanted for their future, including leaving the only village they had known.

"You think your brother is making the right choice?" he asked Ryo.

"Yeah I do, he's got skills enough to survive but not the heart. You should have seen him after your team had their first fight; he didn't even kill but he had nightmares for weeks. I'm actually glad he's going to stay home."

"He does have a good heart. Kaito is the one I'm not sure about, he's got talent and ambition but also a large, civilian family. I fear he will have regrets whatever decision he makes."

Daichi stretched his damaged leg out to one side to stop it from seizing up.

"The other two though, they'll be gone as soon as they no longer want to be here. Could be next week, could be months but it's going to happen," added Ginko, "the girl has talent and Hidans... religion or whatever it is, is going to make him unstoppable. Wherever they end up I just hope they keep clear heads, neither show enough remorse or restraint. Less so Akane-chan but she's unusually assertive for her age."

"Hah yeah those two are going to be nightmares by the time they hit their twenties," snorted Ryo.

Daichi didn't say anything but he agreed, admittedly his student Hidan unsettled him, he was far too eager to shed blood but he'd never turned on his own save for sometimes going a little far in sparring. As for himself, he glanced at his leg, the other Nations wouldn't want damaged goods, he'd stay here and go into early retirement, maybe take on a bodyguard job or something.

The three men sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in their on thoughts. There was a lot changing soon and it was time to make some big decisions.

OOOO

 **A/N; So things are a-changing. It isn't clear at what age Hidan leaves the village in the anime so I'm just doing what I feel is about right. The Ketsurygan is a more recent thing in the show and definitely is just filler, it's also weirdly over powered; being able to blow people up and control their minds and stuff so I'm toning it down for this story, making it more like blood-bending from Avatar.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would call the place the Chinoike clan lived something more imaginative than the Valley of Hell**

OOOO

Akane sighed and let herself slide deeper into the pool, enjoying the quiet of the onsen so early in the morning. The idea of communal bathing had been a very strange concept to get used to, even with separate genders, but she had to admit it was pretty amazing. She'd arrived first thing as the Dragons Breath Hot Spring opened, the one closest to her home. There were only two other women in the pool, sat in the corner furthest from her chattering quietly, seemingly uncaring of their nudity in comparison to Akane who was consistent in keeping her full body submerged and her towel nearby, already having been through puberty once didn't help that teenage self-consciousness. The awkwardness was completely outweighed by the wonders that these hot waters were doing for this life's first round of period cramps though.

It had been seven months since the announcement that Yuga was removing it's shinobi ranks and Akane had thrown herself into training with renewed vigour, taking many patrol missions with Hidan, occasionally accompanied by a combination of Kaito, Ginko, Ryo and Daichi. Hiro had stuck to his choice and now almost never came to any training sessions and could instead be found tending to furnaces and striking with hammers in the Nishimura Blacksmiths.

Hidan had turned fourteen two weeks ago and had decided to take a short patrol route on his own. Akane had her suspicions it had something to do with his worship of Jashin but decided ignorance was bliss in this case, if he was out killing hopefully it was at least people who deserved it. He was due back sometime this afternoon and Akane was looking forward to seeing him, it had been quiet, and training no taxing enough, without him.

Akane tried not to think about her difference in morals as of late. Her last life murder was and always would be out of the question. Here, she wouldn't choose to kill completely needlessly but she rarely had to, Hidan usually happy to weave in and take her kills. She was also strangely ok with Hidan's blood-thirst. Probably because she knew it was going to make him immortal which, with his status as a friend, was not unwelcome. She still hesitated at striking animals, which had earned her a small smattering of scars to join the bite mark on her shoulder.

She soaked for a while longer until more people began to arrive at the pool, choosing to take her leave as a group of loudly gossiping civilian girls entered. She tied her recently shortened, thanks to Hidans naginata, hair up into a ponytail. The damn boy had laughed himself to breathlessness at the look on her face as his swing took out half of her ponytail, but he had helped her straighten the edges out with a kunai. Akane headed to the locker room to collect her things, long dark red standard shinobi pants, full of pockets easy to keep things in on missions which she tucked into her sandals and a sleeveless, high neck white top which were cheap because what kind of ninja wore white? The first time she wore white on a mission with Hidan was due to sheer lack of any other clothing but the looks she had gained on returning to the village made her realise that maybe blood spattered white could work as a mild intimidation technique, so her clothing choice had stuck.

The rest of the morning Akane spent with Inoue-san, helping with housework, before heading to the usual training ground at noon to see who was around today. When she arrived the training ground was empty so Akane set to work on a yoga-esque work out designed to increase flexibility. Around fifteen minutes later a buzz alerted her to Kaito and Daichi heading her way.

"Sorry we're late Akane-chan! Got caught up talking to Hiro!" called Kaito as they approached, "Hidan not back yet?"

Akane straightened up from a backwards fold to greet them.

"No, not yet, he should be here soon though. Want to practice kenjutsu?"

Kaito drew his sword in response and she smiled, Daichi-sensei leaned against the training ground fence to watch. They were getting a lot better with their weapons but it always a good idea to keep an eye on them.

Kaito still hadn't made a choice of what he wanted to do after the next five months, when he could no longer be a shinobi, he continued to train and take a few missions as though nothing had really changed.

Akane kicked out at his ankles, bending low under his kodachi, before dropping completely to the ground to roll away as he turned his horizontal swing into a vertical strike, scoring a small line into her thing as he did so. She pushed off from her hands, aiming both her feet at Kaito's face but he stepped to the side and she landed behind him. Twisting around she swung at his back with her sword, he barely turned in time to catch it with his own and flinched back as she threw a handful of dirt into his face which she had kept in her free hand since she hit the ground. About to push forward her advantage, Akane stopped as she felt another familiar chakra approaching. Holding up her hand to signal to Kaito to stop, Akane saw that the boys expression had changed into one of bemusement so she followed his line of sight.

Hidan was walking across the field with the most obnoxiously giant triple-bladed scythe resting on his shoulder, one hand held on its end for balance. Akane snorted, it looked big in the anime, in life it looked borderline ridiculous, particularly since, whilst Hidan had hit a growth spurt he was no where near as tall nor as bulky as he eventually would be.

"Compensating for something, Hidan?" she called out, Kaito snickering at her side.

"Fuck you bitch! Look how awesome it is!"

"Successful trip then? Where did you get it?"

Hidan was close now, and damn was that a big scythe.

"I won it, not like the previous owner needs it now. Come help me practice use it."

"I think I'll take first practice with you Hidan-kun," interjected Daichi-sensei, "I think Akane-chan would like to keep her limbs intact."

"Come on, I'm not that shit with it, just need to use it a bit more."

"Nah, I'm with Daichi-sensei here, I was already practising with Kaito anyway."

Akane and Kaito didn't end up getting much more training done after all, far too distracted by their teacher and teammate clashing on the other side of the training grounds. Admittedly Hidan was doing quite well, he'd obviously been using the weapon a little on the road, getting used to its weight and balance. He couldn't move it as fast as his naginata though and regularly underestimated it's size, grazing the ground a couple times and his own leg once. Daichi was calling out instructions and advice whilst dodging, weaving and blocking with his own staff, a teaching technique that worked better with Hidan than explaining in bulk first and expecting him to remember it all during practice. The spar was a lot shorter than Hidans usual naginata lessons, Daichi sweeping the boy off his feet with his bo-staff in an unceremonious finale.

"A very good start Hidan-kun. A lot of practice and you'll be able to use it with the same ease you achieved with your naginata. It will just take patience."

"Yeah cause Hidan has loads of that." Akane joked.

"Whatever bitch, like I haven't seen you get mad at the queue outside that onsen you like."

At Akane's reply in the form of a hand gesture, Daichi tapped down his staff onto the ground.

"Well, I think I'm going to go and see what Ginko-san and Ryo-san are up to, you kids enjoy your day."

OOOO

"Here, I found someplace interesting while I was out."

Hidan tossed a book in Akane's direction as he sorted through his pack that he'd dropped off at home before coming to the training field. Akane crossed her legs where she sat at the end of his bed and opened the first page, the blank red cover giving little indication of anything excepts it's age.

The first page had a drawing of an eye, it looked to be brown ink but the clan name underneath made Akane pretty sure it was blood. Her clan name – Chinoike. She flicked through the pages to get a general gist. The first half seemed to be a journal. The second half had images drawn in blood with descriptions and hand seals written next to them.

"Where did you find this?" Akane breathed. She hadn't seen anything to do with her clan since she had left.

"Some weird valley I came across, full of skeletons and creepy as shit … I mean er you know there was a village. It's your clan right? You never really said much about what happened to your family."

"Says you. But yeah, that is – was – my clan. Were there other books like this?"

"Yeah I think so, I didn't stay there long so I didn't really check for much. That book was just lying next to some skeleton next to a huge pond of blood."

"Its just red water, Hidan. Do you remember where the Valley was?"

"You don't know?"

"I only ever left once and I wasn't quite paying attention in order to remember."

"Hn, yeah I could find it again."

Akane didn't reply just made herself more comfortable on Hidan's bed as she began to read the journal, missing the thoughtful look Hidan gave her before he left the room with the dirty clothes from his pack.

 _This valley is nigh uninhabitable, so little life fills its grounds and even the water is tainted with iron. But it is hidden and we are safe. Those damn Uchiha chased for miles, so relentless is the mind of a Sharingan wielder. They killed many of us along the way, all for what; a rumour? Even if Chiyani did cause the cause the death of the Lightning Daimyo what right do they have to chase out the whole clan, by a clan hired from another Nation no less! But no, we have little choice and few options so here we shall remain._

Akane glanced at the date of the first entry, it was old, dating back to the Warring States Period. The Chinoike Clan must have lived in the Valley of Hell, so aptly named, for a long time. She read into more detail the opening to the second half of the book. It recorded the abilities of each Ketsuryugan user in the clan. Evidently, much as each Sharingan user had varying Mangekyo abilities, each user of the Chinoike clan's dojutsu had a different special ability. One caught Akane's eye that she remembered seeing in the show – pushing chakra into an opponents bloodstream which caused them to explode when they bled – well this one she could rule out as being one of her abilities or she would have already exploded her teammates by now. The page on this skill had a footnote detailing a training accident in which this particular user had discovered what his bloodline did. Akane shuddered as she imagined 'accidentally' blowing up any member of her team. The final page of the book had a note stating that there was a separate book for the skills available to all the users of the Ketsuryugan and that this book was only for specific records of individual talents.

"Hidan?"

Hidan had re-entered the room not long after he had left and was sat no cleaning and sharpening his new scythe with avid attention.

"What?"

"Can we go soon?"

"Tch, yeah, give me like two days to get all my shit cleaned and get supplies and then we'll go."

"Thank you."

Hidan just smirked and focused his attention back on what he was doing, Akane flipped the book open again.

OOOO

The rust coloured cliffs and dull trickling water were enough to set Akane's heart racing. She knew she wanted to go into the valley, knew she had to see what she'd left behind. But her mind was dragging her back and now she was eight and she was scared. Breathing speeding up, Akane was no longer sure that she could do this. A hand came to rest on her shoulder, surprisingly gentle. Hidan was looking towards the valley too put showing a rare sign of empathy as he began to guide her towards the gap in the cliffs.

Perhaps there was still a normal boy under the fanatic, somewhat mad mind that followed a religion of violence and blood.

And perhaps there was a braver girl, no longer a weak eight year old, under the fearful eyes of a young teen who stepped forwards with her partner towards the Valley of Hell in which she was born.

OOOO

 **A/N: Not too happy with this chapter, it feels a bit boring but I needed a bridge into some new plot points, namely Akane's past. It feel super cheesy calling it the Valley of Hell but that is literally it's canon name in the show.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not have any claim to the Narutoverse**

OOOO

The first skeleton was further away from the village than she expected, sprawled out in a narrow section of the valley. Six years in the hot steam rising through cracks in the ground had stripped it clean, bones in surprisingly good condition but clothes disintegrated and faded from the sun. There were no discernible features left for identification and Akane hoped it wasn't someone who had raised her.

Hidan strode ahead, guiding through gaps in rock and over thin streams of water which became more saturated in red the deeper into the valley they walked. Eventually the valley widened, each cliff side towering up into the sky and signs of civilisation came into view. Many of the building had sunken into themselves, having never been the most structurally sound in the first place. Akane had no idea how Hidan had just happened to come across this place, had it been pure chance or had he been looking?

The blood stains became larger, brown with age and the skeletons more frequent the further they walked through the silent village and Akane could barely breathe through the memories of her first eight years of life in this world. Hidan had slowed to walk at her side, no longer guiding now that they had reached their destination. Akane grabbed onto one of his hands, pulling him down a familiar street, his presence grounding her to the present. There were so many bodies littering the streets, some in groups, some alone, smaller ones with arm bones tangled into larger skeletons.

 _Akane looked around from her places on her fathers hip, one hand grasping the back of his yukata for balance. Her young, chubby face gave no indication of the mature mind beneath, a mind that was looking around with such calculating interest, trying to understand what this place was, so different to the world where she once had a family of her own._

" _Oh look at her! So big already! Hello little Akane-chan, where are you and daddy off to today?"_

 _Akane pulled away from the grasping hands of their elderly neighbour, Akai-san, who never seemed to understand that maybe even toddlers wanted some personal space._

" _We're just heading to Yuhi-sans to see if his latest hunting trip was any success. Do you need anything?"_

" _Oh no, no Hiromasa-san, I've got everything I need."_

 _Akane gave a polite wave as her father continued down the street, Akai-san was a strange old lady but she waved back with a smile, wrinkled old hands grasping at her dark wooden door for balance._

A large section of the neighbouring roof had slipped from the crumbling walls, Akane spotted a skeletal hand peeping out from underneath the debris and realised this collapse was not the work of time but of a deliberate impact. She didn't look too closely at the finger-bones. At least Akai-san had managed to live a full life.

She climbed over the lowest edge of the rubble, the door to the home where she was raised was blocked but an opening that served as a window was just large enough for Akane to pull herself through. Hidan scowled at the small opening before heaving himself through with considerably less grace than she had managed, leaving his scythe just outside as it wouldn't fit. Akane's breath caught in her chest. The house was largely untouched save for a layer of dust and a vague smell of damp.

" _Akane-chan! I'm going to catch you!", Akako called through their small home, "I can hear you giggling!"_

 _A five year old Akane pressed a hand to her mouth, over her smile, tucking her legs further under the small table that her parents had in their room. She ignored that part of her brain telling her she was far too old for this and let the child's brain in her head run the show. Her mothers feet appeared from the doorway that Akane could only just see from her hiding spot._

" _I think I'm getting waarmeer~" her mother sang, Akane held her breath in anticipation as her mother began to lean down to check under the furniture._

 _Suddenly a large pair of arms wrapped around the woman's waist._

" _Quick Akane-chan! Go, go! Whilst the beast is trapped!"_

 _Akane-chan fled from the room, laughing brightly, past her wrestling parents._

A flicker.

" _Go Akane! Run! Get out of here!"_

 _An eight year old Akane pressed a hand to her mouth, over her gasp of horror as a blade pierced through her fathers stomach and a wave of blood crashed across the street. She fled, and she didn't look back._

Akane trailed her hand over the furniture, her face showing little of the memories that raced through her mind. They searched the house together for anything of use but her parents had owned few books save for stories. The only thing Akane picked up were three bracelets from her room that she and her parents had made together from twine and small iron beads. They were laughably simple and obviously home-made but they made Akane remember the smiles on the faces of the two who raised her. Not her first set of parents, but who had placed themselves in her heart regardless. She slipped each bracelet onto her wrists, tying the close so they wouldn't catch on anything.

"There's a meeting-hall on the other side of the village. If there's anything of use left it will be there."

Hidan nodded and followed Akane back out of her home. For once he wasn't full of pointless remarks or harsh words, he just walked at her back in silence.

"Surely some-one must have survived. There's got to be a last man standing, right?"

Hidan glanced around the skeletons at Akane's question.

"Maybe it was that guy," he pointed to a skeleton sat slumped against a wall, one bony hand pressed to its ribs, "or one of those," two skeletons who had apparently simultaneously skewered one another and died together, "or that guy out in the valley. Or maybe someone did make it out and left Hot Spring country all together. No way to know really."

"Yeah, you're right."

The Meeting-hall had been built with more care and better resources than much of the rest of the town and so it stood a little higher and in a better state of repair. The wooden door, however had not withstood the prevalent steam that filled the air and came off in pieces as Akane attempted to swing it open. The main room of the building had a lot of skeletons, many leaning across the large central table, swords and kunai still wedged in their vertebrae and rib-cages.

"This wasn't exactly a fucking small village but I've never heard anything about it in Yuga," said Hidan.

"The clan was forced here years ago from Kumo, they weren't exactly liked so they stayed hidden."

"Weird."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

A side room was what they had been hoping for – lined with shelves holding books, scrolls and other documents and trinkets. Akane busied herself scanning the shelves, looking for journals similar to the one Hidan had given her, or any other literature that looked useful. After an hour or so a loud rumble jolted Akane out of her search. She spun around to find the Hidan was no longer in the room with her, she hadn't even noticed him leave the room, so engrossed in the books as she was. The next sound had her sprinting out of the building.

"Akane! Fuck! AKANE!"

"Hidan!?" Akane shouted back, following the feel of Hidan's chakra. One of the buildings they had passed earlier had collapsed, Hidan was on his knees at the edge. Akane held back a retch at the long piece of flaking wood that was impaled deeply into her teammates neck, pushing his head to an odd angle.

"Don't fucking gawp! Fucking help!"

"Oh shit, Oh Kami, Hidan," she rambled as she clasped her hands around the timber.

Hidan's hands settled just below hers.

"Ready? Pull."

The noise the piece of wood made was absolutely sickening as it scraped and squelched out of Hidan's shoulder. It was a lot longer than she expected, she was sure it pierced all the way down into Hidan's chest. It took several pulls and Hidan was laughing, loud and high-pitched the whole time sending goosebumps down Akane's spine. The second the wood was free and Hidan leaned forwards, out of harms way, Akane turned her back to him to dry-heave. She had seen wounds before but usually clean-cut strikes from a blade, not a mess like this.

"Stop being such a fucking drama-queen there's still fucking splinters in me!"

"Hidan, what the fuck man, what were you doing? You should be dead! When did you..."

"About when I got my scythe. Jashin-sama was happy with my sacrifices that week. But it doesn't matter, can you see in?"

"In," she repeated blankly, "Yeah, I can."

Akane steeled herself and looked into the gaping hole at the curve of Hidans neck. It seemed to be healing already but sure enough there were chunks of wood littered through the soft flesh.

"Do you have like tweezers or something?"

"Do I look like I carry fucking tweezers?"

"I guess not."

She breathed deeply and pushed her fingers in, pulling out any splinters she could reach. In her head she tried to think of anything she could to take her mind of the scenario imaging she'd been asked to remove something that had fallen into jelly. Red, soft, wet jelly...

"That's everything I can get."

"Hopefully anything else will just push itself out or some shit. Stupid fucking building. Thanks though."

"I would say anytime but please, please do not make me stick my hand in you ever again."

Hidan raised an eyebrow at her and started to laugh, arm hanging loosely from his ruined shoulder, but the sound he made was much more sane than earlier.

"Don't fucking laugh Hidan! That was the worst."

"Yeah whatever bitch you find some shit in that library?"

"Yeah I think so. Can you walk? I think we should move away from these buildings."

Akane lead Hidan further through to the back of the village to the edge of a small waterfall and pool, all glinting red in the sun.

"Nice, this place is pretty fucking cool with water like that," Hidan said appreciatively, he'd removed his shirt and used it to tie into a make-shift sling to keep his shoulder still while it healed.

"Of course you'd like a blood aesthetic." Akane rolled her eyes.

She sat by the pool and trailed one had absently through the water. They sat for a while in silence, Akane flicking through the books and scrolls she had found. One in particular caught her eye – a scroll focusing on the manipulation of the iron-filled waters of Hell Valley. She stood up and began to practice the sequence of hand seals noted on the scroll. When she felt she could do the fluidly she stood facing the pool and activated her Ketsuryugan, her eyes filling with the same colour of the water she gazed at. This time as she completed the hand seal sequence she felt a large wave of chakra leave her, entering the water which surged up in front of her, climbing higher in a huge, writhing wave. The scroll next had instructions how to direct the wave and increase or decrease the force behind in. Akane thought for a moment, arm outstretched to hold the wave in place, and glanced to where Hidan had moved to stand when she had first moved the water. She hesitated, as he was already injured, but he'd scared her earlier and she felt a spark of mischief in her chest. He didn't see her look, too busy staring up at the wall of red. Swinging her arm and 'pushing' with her chakra Akane let the water crash like a tidal wave onto her startled teammate. He was swiped off his feet as the water completely submerged him. Akane drew her arm back to her body and the water reversed, sloshing back into the pool. She released the jutsu.

"What the fucking name of Jashin-sama was that Akane! You fucking bitch!"

"That's for making me stick my hand _inside_ your shoulder," she laughed.

The water had been shockingly easy to control, like it had bent to the whims of a thousand other chakras and so it already knew what she wanted.

"You've got to admit that was awes-hng," Akane was cut off as the much heavier boy tackled her to the ground, pressing her face into the now damp ground with his free hand. Akane twisted under him arm striking up at his face. Their impromptu fighting match was surprisingly therapeutic, by an unspoken agreement they didn't use any weapons or jutsu. It didn't last long though, when it came to taijutsu Hidan always had the upper hand, and soon her face was once again pressed down into the dirt.

"Ok, Ok Hidan, you win! I'm sorry for soaking you!" the sincerity of her apology was reduced by the suppressed laughter in her voice, she had deserved that.

"Damn right you're sorry bitch! Talk about kicking me while I'm down!" he gestured at his shoulder.

Hidan got to his feet, dragging Akane up with him.

"But how did you do that? That was a fuck-ton of water."

"I don't know, it just moved really easily. Way easier than blood."

"You should take some with you, might be useful."

"I have a bottle of it back at home, Yuga I mean," an image of Gaara with his huge sand gourd on his back flashed into Akane's mind, "I don't think I want to carry a whole bunch around the whole time."

"Fair," Hidan glanced up at the sky, "It's going to get dark soon, you want to set up camp here?"

"No, definitely not. I don't think there's much left to find here, lets just go."

OOOO

Three months later Akane had learned much from the journals she'd found in the Valley of Hell. A number of the jutsu were only feasible using the supply of red water in the valley itself but many could be applied to blood. Akane was becoming much more fluent with her use of her bloodline abilities, in one of her proudest moments she had pushed her chakra into Hidans blood and managed to hold his arm still whilst she was caught in his ritual as he tried to plunge a kunai into his stomach. Hidan had take a few more solo missions, always returning with a bag full of bloody clothes and a cocky grin on his face.

"Hidan, I was thinking it might be time to leave soon."

"Fuck yes, I agree. About time you said that."

"You could have just said if you wanted to leave earlier."

"You were the one who said was should get as much as fucking possible out of this shitty town."

"I suppose...Do you even want to live in Konoha?"

"I don't fucking know. Never been."

"Neither have I."

"Then how do you know you want to live there?"

"I just do I guess, seems like a good idea."

Akane and Hidan were once again sat on the cliffs above the village. Only three months were left until they wouldn't have no place left here at all. Ginko and Ryo had long since left, Daichi had announced his retirement only a week ago and Kaito, somehow, was still undecided. She had finally reached the point where she would be able to travel far from the village in relative safety, of that Akane was sure, but part of her wanted to stay. How was it her fault that she just happened to know what the future had in store for this world? Why did that mean she had to do scary shit? Put her comfort to one side to help a bunch of people she didn't even know? But she knew why. That small voice in the back of her head would say 'what if?' it would whisper condescending words of her cowardice, that she had already ran from one massacre and that's all she was going to do again.

And she didn't want those whispers to be right.

OOOO

 **A/N: So a lot of Akane/Hidan bonding moments here just cause it's fun to write and a bit more back story for Akane.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: If Naruto was mine the villains would be fleshed out a lot more. Gotta love all the bad guys**

OOOO

"Akane."

"..What?"

"I'm bored."

"You might have mentioned that already."

"We haven't had a fucking fight or seen another person in two fucking days."

"I am aware of that."

"Fight me."

"No thanks."

"Akaanneee."

Hidan sighed as the girl in front of him refused to react. He watched as Akane ran a hand through her hair, did a routine pat down of the scroll holding her belongings on one hip and her ever present pouch on the other. It had only been three days since they left the village and Hidan hadn't anticipated how god-damn dull travelling would be. Sure they'd travelled before as part of missions but that was work, he expected that to be monotonous. When they finally turned their backs to that dumb fucking village for good Hidan had braced himself for excitement of the world beyond Hot Springs. They had decided to head South-West from Yugakure and cross over the corner of the Land of Rice Paddies, or apparently it was Land of Sounds these days, to Fire Country. For some reason Akane was interested in going to see some statues at some place called the Valley of the End, Hidan had no idea why but had no reason not to agree.

Twisting his scythe through a lazy figure of eight Hidan watched the back of his teammate. He still surprised himself sometimes with the connection he felt to her. He'd never been one for close connections to people around him but Akane was alright. She didn't shy away from him like most others, even Hiro and Kaito had given him wary glances from time to time but Akane never seemed surprised or cautious about anything he did. She just accepted, or seemingly expected, most of the things he did and as such he found her to be one of the few people he could tolerate being around. Incidents like the time his arm got cut off and that god-damn wood impaling him taught him that having someone else around sure isn't a bad idea, if only to patch you back up.

During the mornings and evenings, when it was cooler, Hidan and Akane ran. They usually stuck to roads throughout the day but went off track to find a safer place to camp each night. When the sun was at its zenith each day and the heat became uncomfortable they slowed to a walking pace. It had so far been successful at making them cover large distances each day without completely draining their energy.

Hidan sped up to close the gap between him and Akane as soon as she raised her arm in the air with four fingers raised, his scythe still in hand. She then closed it to one finger which pointed towards the tree line on their right. Barely ten seconds passed before two shinobi, one male and one female, stood before them, weapons drawn, but stances non-aggressive. The male, with long hair and a sour face, took one step forward.

"Please present your identification papers. The Otokage prefers to know who crosses his borders."

"Sure, we just need to get them out ok?" Akane's tone was polite as she gestured to her pouch, signalling that she wasn't going for a weapon. Hidan, too, placed his hand on his pockets which he kept his papers in.

They handed them over to the stern-faced shinobi who read them closely.

"More shinobi leaving Yugakure. You're younger than most who've passed through the borders these last few months. I am ordered to offer a hand of welcome, should you wish to join the village Hidden in Sound, you would do well in our ranks."

He handed back their papers and was looking almost expectantly. Apparently a few Yuga-nin had taken them up on that offer.

"No thank you, we have someplace to be already." Akane bowed slightly but Hidan could sense she was a little unsettled, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was that only half of the team had come into sight, the other two holding back behind the treeline.

"Your papers stated your name as Chinoike? It was believed that your clan had been wiped out some time ago. The Otokage would be most _interested_ to meet you."

Hidan didn't like that tone. Their papers had no mention of their skills but apparently just Akane's surname was enough to be recognised.

"She said no, asshole. We'll be fucking going now."

The shinobi finally showed some emotion at that, eyebrows furrowing at the disrespect in Hidan's tone, and the kunoichi next to him raised her kunai higher.

"I really must insist. Sound Village is thriving with an array of clans. You would fit in quite well there."

"And _I_ _really_ must insist that we're good. Thank you."

Akane began to back away, nudging Hidan with her shoulder slightly. Hidan felt his spirits rise. He'd been aching for a fight! The two that he could see didn't look too strong. The male was definitely chunin level but the kunoichi looked too uncertain and quite young. She was probably only a genin. A double tap on his shoulder alerted Hidan that Akane's main aim was to get away from these people, not to stand and fight unless it was needed. But fuck that, unless the two hidden away were freakishly strong Hidan reckoned they could do this just fine.

"Now now children, do you really think this is the best course to take?"

"We won't know unless we try. Your friends in the trees going to join us?"

The male chunin's glare deepened at Akane's words and he signalled with one hand. Two boys, even younger than the kunoichi jumped down beside the group on the road. Hidan smirked, baring his teeth in and unsettling manner. Seems like the two hiding were nothing more than newbies, probably being shown the patrol routes by their sensei. It was their lucky day.

"Are you sure this is the best fucking course for you?"

And surprisingly enough, the man looked uncertain for half a second, his eyes flickering towards the two boys. As he turned back though his face was determined.

"The Otokage would be furious if I let such an opportunity slip by."

A flick of the hand and five shuriken flew at them, Hidan pulled Akane to one side and let the shuriken hit his body, not like it mattered too much and he could use the blood. It gave Akane the time she needed to draw her sword and the two of them burst into movement. Hidan aimed straight for the two youngest, it was easiest to cut down the numbers on the field as quickly as possible. He let his chakra rise around him, thick with his eagerness to shed blood, one hand going quickly to his pendant as he whispered the shortest prayer he knew, to make sure Jashin-sama was watching.

One of the kids had frozen, eyes wide in fear, only saved from Hidan's vicious swing by the quick-acting Kunoichi who shoved him out the way, yelling harsh words to get the kid moving. Engaging the young woman, Hidan began to cackle again as he quickly gained the upper hand, damn this chick had nothing on Akane who he was used to sparring with. He feinted to one side with his scythe, leaving a blatant opening at his ribs, and damn if his opponent didn't just dive right in there. He let the kunai plunge deep into his ribs as he changed the trajectory of his scythe with ease, bringing in heavily into the kunoichi's exposed thigh. Her damaged leg collapsed under her as Hidan yanked his weapon out of her flesh.

Another piercing feeling in his back made Hidan yell in surprise. The second kid was there, eyes terrified and determined at the same time, Hidan launched his head forward quickly into the boys face, ignoring the crunch of his own nose as he did so. The kid didn't move anywhere near fast enough and went down hard, stunned.

Hidan shoved the kids unconscious form out of the way to give himself some room and drew out his symbol on the ground using his and the kunoichi's blood, pausing only briefly to sweep the legs out from underneath the girl as she tried to strike out again. He smiled down at the girl, blood pouring down over his teeth from his nose as he licked a drop of her blood from his scythe. He never tired of that change in their eyes as he plunged his own weapon deep into his stomach, as they realised they felt it too. As they realised that they were taking their last breath.

He jerked the kunai out of his back that the kid had just left there and fell to one knee as he plunged it down into the now waking boys stomach. The boy was quick to stop moving. He straightened to look for the first boy, the one who had frozen in fear at the start of the fight only to note that he had been paying absolutely no attention to how Akane was doing.

The first boy was on the ground not too far from where she still danced around the chunin man. From here Hidan couldn't tell if the kid was alive. A thin streak of blood was trailing in the air around Akane's opponent, darting forwards to cut through the man's skin every few seconds, spiking into gaps left open by the man as Akane diverted his attention with her hands, feet and sword. Eventually the man slipped up and leant low as Akane swept at his feet with her blade. The streak of blood threaded its way through his exposed throat and Akane spun her sword around as the man flinched in pain, driving it into his stomach to finish him.

"Nice. You're getting way fucking better with that blood stuff.", Hidan approved, a little jealous. If he could move blood around like that his rituals would be so easy.

He nodded towards the other kid, "That one dead too?"

Akane shook her head and Hidan began to walk towards him to finish up. Akane's hand around his wrist stopped him, her blood eyes pierced him with a look.

"Just leave him, Hidan. That kid was in way over his head."

"And so it's his fucking fault he's gonna die. Shouldn't be so weak."

Akane threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and began to walk away down the road.

"Just hurry up, we need to get out of Sound country before they find this mess."

Hidan glanced over at the unconscious kid again, then at the back of the girl walking away from him, hesitating.

When he caught up to Akane again, he did his best to wipe away that extra bit of blood dripping from his weapon before she saw it. A young shinobi was worth so much as a sacrifice, they thought they were unstoppable and so much future potential that he could snuff out. Hidan tried to pretend nothing had happened, annoyed at the fluttering of a sickly feeling in his chest as Akane didn't look at him or say anything when he caught back up with her.

OOOO

Akane set the pace, fast and gruelling in order for them to reach the Land of Fire by nightfall. Technically any Oto-nin could follow them over the border and attack but it was marginally safer than being in their own territory.

Akane's head was racing about how likely it was that Orochimaru would continue to have her pursued. On the one hand he loved to collect bloodlines, to learn as much as he could about each and every one. On the other hand Otogakure was quite new still so hopefully the man had better things to do than pursue a genin across the border into a nation where he was currently hated. But then again she had killed some of his shinobi. But he had no way of knowing if she could even use or control her bloodline, did he? Damn this way of thinking was going to drive her mad!

Running onwards, Akane began scanning the surrounding areas for somewhere good to stop. It was getting dark already and neither of them had good enough senses to travel through the night. Hidan had been oddly quiet since their run-in with the Oto-nin. She had expected boasting about his kills or reiterations of the boredom of travelling. But he had said nothing.

She had been mad at him for the unnecessary killing of what she saw as a child but had spent the next hour or so mentally berating herself. The 'kid' had chosen to be a shinobi, the 'kid' if left alive could have alerted others to their whereabouts quicker and they could have had more pursuers to deal with. Thirdly, at no point should she ever delude herself over Hidan's nature. He was devoted to his extreme religion; he killed and would continue to kill regardless of her opinion and she had accepted that until now. It would be hypocritical of her to change her tone. Not when she too had now killed a number of times. This worlds morals were so different and she had to roll with the tide lest it break her.

"Hidan, try and lay some false trails around the area like how Daichi-sensei taught us," Akane requested when they found a suitable overhanging cliff at which to make camp for the night. The ridge would prevent anyone being able to approach them at their backs and the overhang provided shelter and obscured them from sight at certain angles.

Hidan nodded and headed out of sight. Akane made sure she could still feel his chakra buzzing in the distance at all times as she dug a small hole in the ground to create a covered camp fire that wouldn't be visible from a distance.

When Hidan returned he still acted as though Akane would explode any second.

"Hidan? I'm not mad at you, you know?"

"You sure?" he sounded genuinely surprised, "Cause you've been frowning the whole run here and you haven't said a word."

"I didn't say anything cause you didn't! And the frown wasn't over you, well maybe a little at first, but not now. I'm just worried that Oto might be determined to come after us. They'll send stronger people the next time."

"We'll just kill them too."

"I hope you're right."

They sat in silence,warming simple meal from their rations from home and bringing out sleeping rolls from the storage scrolls. The night was silent, save from the distant murmur of animals and occasional snap of twigs under the foot of a deer. Akane finally felt the ball of tense energy in her chest begin to loosen as she stared out into the night.

"Akane?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm bored."

Akane sighed, but a smile tugged at her lips.

"You can take first watch then."

OOOO

 **A/N: I'm getting way too into writing little chats between these two hah. Wonder how determined Snake-face is gonna be? (Seriously, I haven't actually decided yet.)**

 **Not to be one of _those_ people but can't help but notice there's hundreds of visitors/views. Quite a lot of follows but few reviews. Don't be scared to let me know what you really think people!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I _wish_ I owned Naruto**

OOOO

They kept up their rapid pace along the top border between Fire and Sound on their way to the Valley of the End, which Akane remained certain she wanted to see even if it meant maintaining a short distance to the country where they'd just killed a border patrol. It was around midday that the side of the heads of two huge statues came to loom on the horizon. From here Hidan couldn't see what the big deal was but as they continued he realised they were further away than they looked, and far larger than he expected.

A consistent roar filled the air from the pouring waterfall that smashed down upon rocks between the two statues. Akane's eyes were wide with awe as she looked up at the gargantuan stone figures. The anime had not done these justice at all. A fine spray shimmered in the air from where two rocks disrupted the waterfall half way up the cliff side. Akane could feel a gentle tingle of old chakra filling the area, intermixed with a dark tang of hate, remnants of the battle here and the penetrating energy of the kyuubi. This place made her feel small, weak and insignificant, like there was no way she could ever stand up to the memories of the people that this area has seen.

A more obvious chakra presence caught the edge of her awareness and Akane peered down the cliffs, where her and Hidan stood by the shoulder of Madara Uchiha's likeness. She almost rolled her eyes at her luck at the wild bush of white hair that she could see sitting by the waters edge. From this high angle it didn't even look like he had a body.

"Do you ever feel like life is laughing at you?", she muttered.

Hidan peered down too.

"You know that guy?"

"Same one who told me to head to Konoha."

"Weird timing."

The man, while he had probably noticed there presence as soon as they arrived, chose now to tilt his head up and look at them. Akane continued to lean down and stared back.

"Hey Yuga-kid! Fancy seeing you out here!" Jiraiya called cheerily, as though bumping into an acquaintance on the street rather than at a significant memorial far from any towns, "Come on down here!"

Akane glanced at Hidan, shrugged and stepped over the edge of the cliff, sticking her feet to the wall. The first few times walking parallel to the ground like this had made her feel so disoriented but she had become pretty comfortable with with practice. She glanced at Hidan who looked for a second like he was going to just jump. Sure it'd probably be hilarious and its not like he could die but he really didn't need shattered legs right now. Clearly he thought so too as he stuck to the wall and followed her down.

They approached Jiraiya, making their way along the rocky edges of the river to a section where it widened. The man was sitting cross-legged with several notebooks scattered around him, the thickest of which was open on a rock that was being used as a makeshift table. A small toad was sat nearby, right at the edge of the water, which croaked balefully as they came close. Jiraiya dipped his brush into a pot of water to clean it before tucking it casually behind one ear, quickly to become consumed by white hair. He his head to appraise them both.

"So you decided to leave your village then. You going to go to Konoha like I suggested?" he said to Akane.

"Yes, that's the plan. Do you write here often?"

"Sure do! Not many people to bother you and a good place to listen to the chirping of passing birds."

 _Birds being his spy network. Probably keeping an eye on the expansion of Otogakure,_ Akane thought.

"It's not a bad spot I suppose. I just thought your research took more... populated areas."

"Indeed it does kid! But that's _research._ To actually write takes a bit of peace and quiet," he glances at the roaring waterfall, "Quiet from humans anyway."

He moves his gaze to the grey haired boy stood beside her.

"And you brought your teammate with you, kid."

"Why do you sound so fucking surprised about that old man." Hidan scowled.

"I didn't think people of your _religion_ were much ones for friends."

"You've met other followers of Jashin-sama?"

"Not many, and less as time goes on. Not many choosing such a life these days," Jiraiya remained polite but his tone had darkened.

"Not many fucking needed so long as those who do follow Jashin-sama with everything they have."

"And for what gain, exactly, for a boy such as yourself to sacrifice others?"

"What about you Jiraiya-sama?" Akane interrupted, before Hidan could blurt out that he couldn't be killed, "How many have you killed? And for what gain? "

"You kids are taking the wrong tone with me. I fight to make this world better. I have killed in war to help end this cycle of hatred that our countries perpetuate. You are too young to be able to question what I have seen, what I have done and even more so my reasons _why_."

Jiraiya's tone was more aggressive by his final word and Akane realised that she needed to back-track. This interaction was not going well and it would not be to their benefit to alienate the Toad Sage. She bowed.

"I meant no offence Jiraiya-sama, only to point out that we have all taken lives here and each has their own opinion on the value of those lives. I personally trust Hidan-kun, regardless of his beliefs. I ask that you be amicable towards him until he gives you a true reason not to be."

Damn, even she was surprised she'd managed to say any of that without putting her foot even further into her mouth.

"Tch, you seem older than you look, kid," he turned back to face the river,leaving his back to them in a sign of trust, "I would give it a few more days before you go to Konoha. Its about three days travel from here so that should be enough for things to calm down over there."

"Calm down?" Akane said. Her eyes trailed over to the towering statue of Madara and she did some quick maths in her head. Itachi would be thirteen, oh.

"Just a little incident a few nights ago. If you wait until the morning I will also be heading to Konoha if you feel like a guide on the road."

Akane glanced at Hidan, who shrugged in response.

"That is kind of you Jiraiya-sama. We would be glad to take you up on that offer."

"Ok. Well scram for now kids, I'm busy with my book."

With that Jiraiya flicked his brush back into his hand, dipped it in ink and set back to writing. The toad croaked loudly once and leapt into the river with a plop.

OOOO

"That guy was a right bastard." Hidan grumbled.

"He's quite set in his ideas of right and wrong. He isn't a fan of your beliefs."

"No shit. If all the Konoha-nin are like that I don't want to fucking go."

"I doubt they will be Hidan."

Akane and Hidan had headed down river from the statues and Jiraiya. Both were still visible, if barely, but out of earshot. Since they had the rest of the day and night to kill they wandered the area, scoping out possible hiding areas in the gaps between the rocks, several of which they found had small frogs sitting in the crevices. By late afternoon they were sparring on the surface of the river, just taijutsu as it would do no good to cause any serious injuries whilst not in a secure location, and afterwards they dropped through the waters surface to swim. At regular intervals a frog or a toad came to sit by them or casually swam past. None spoke or gave any indication of being anything other than a wild frog but, with the Toad Sage so close by, Akane knew they were keeping an eye on things. She wasn't sure if she was reassured or unsettled by this.

"Hey Hidan, since we've got spare time can I practice some genjutsu on you?" Akane asked as she sat on the side of the river to dry off, "The scrolls from Hell said that some of the clan could use genjutsu as mind control and for sure that could be useful."

"Fucking mind control? Ok, but don't make me do something fucking dumb, ok bitch?"

"I won't."

She stood, pushing chakra into her eyes, bleeding them red. She had always been terrible at genjutsu, only successfully putting Kaito under one briefly using her dojutsu and only a handful more times she'd used regular ones that didn't take a kekkei genkai. Supposedly she didn't need hand seals, just eye contact.

Seconds ticked by, Akane staring adamantly into Hidan's deep violet eyes, trying to focus.

"Damn Akane, this is weirder than when I licked your blood off your hands."

"Shut up Hidan, I'm concentrating."

They fell back into silence, Hidan deciding to take this as a no blinking competition which he was disconcertingly good at. Akane focused on the feel of her chakra in her eyes instead of pushing her chakra outwards as she usually would to infuse and control blood she envisioned pulling at Hidan's eye with an invisible force. Pulling his mind into her chakra. Finally she felt a shift, a sense of foreign consciousness beside hers, significantly more distant and quiet. Into this consciousness she pushed a thought.

 _Jump._

One of Hidan's legs twitched but he made no other movement, his eyes were still focused on hers, too focused. Akane 'pulled' harder with her chakra and the other consciousness became clearer.

 _Jump. JUMP._

Hidan jumped. The connection broke as Hidan brain registered that he was moving without meaning to. Akane grinned at him in victory.

"It worked!"

"Fucking barely, you had to stare for ages. You literally could not fucking use that in battle."

"Stepping stones Hidan!"

She wouldn't let his pessimism bring her down. Thoughts of mind control filling her thoughts. Sure it was unethical but so many possibilities in battle. It was going to take a lot of practice though, Akane wasn't a particularly assertive person, and that would probably help.

"Just stick with your blood stuff for now, at least it's actually fucking useful."

Akane raised and arm shoving chakra across the gap between them and into Hidan's hand, she flicked her fingers and Hidans hand moved up, middle finger raised right in front of his own face.

"Fucking ow bitch! That shit doesn't feel nice you know."

"Don't be a dick about my awesome skills then asshole!"

She had found the more she repeated blood manipulation on the same person, and the smaller the area she was trying to manipulate, the easier it was. She thought of the pool in the Valley of Hell which had moved with so little exertion on her part. Apparently chakra recognised liquid which had been manipulated by the bloodline before, locking into the substance with more ease each time. Not useful in battle, as it was unlikely she'd fight the same opponent many more than one time, but interesting none the less.

OOOO

As night fell Jiraiya finally moved from his spot for more than just a quick stretch of his legs. He walked along to where Hidan and Akane has built a small fire over which they were cooking fish they had caught after training.

"Both of you are more skilled than I expected, with the assumption that today was only light training giving the location. Hidan-kun was it? I may have been... quick to speak so harshly of you. It has become clear that you are, in fact able, to make associates outside of the constraints of your beliefs."

"Er thanks?" Hidan grunted unsurely through a mouthful of food.

Akane smiled lightly to herself, glad that making no fuss over being watched by frogs all day had allowed the Toad Sage to see that they weren't anything different to most other teams.

"What is it you expect to find in Konoha?" Jiraiya looked at them each for this question.

"A place to call home, to live and work, and to get stronger." stated Akane.

"Yeah strength, Yuga was so fucking weak," added Hidan, "A strong village with strong shinobi."

Jiraiya gave little response to their answers, only nodding.

He didn't ask anymore questions, only launched into tales of what he liked about Yuga, similar things to be found in Konoha, ("So may hot springs where you're from of course but Konoha makes it's women bigger and stronger, much more...interesting!"), each tale seemed long and full of detail but when they went to bed down for the night Akane couldn't help but marvel at Jiraiya's ability to waffle on without really giving any information of use away. Thanks to Jiraiya's offer to use his summons to keep watch for the night, Hidan and Akane had the first opportunity since they left Yugakure to have a full nights sleep at the same time, without having to switch watch half way through the night.

As Akane settled down she couldn't help but mull over her earlier realisation that the Uchiha massacre has happened very recently. Could she have stopped it? Somehow sent word to someone? Moved to Konoha earlier? She hated this, it felt like one big failure already and she hadn't even had it cross her mind that it was happening soon. Akane had been focusing so much on making herself stronger that she hadn't kept track of the timeline and one big disaster had happened already. Whilst technically she'd been alive in this world the night of Naruto's birth and the kyuubi she had been very young, still living with her clan in a desolate valley. But maybe she could have done something about the massacre. Maybe?

The supposedly fourteen-year-old girl shook her head at her own thoughts, playing absent-mindedly with the beads on the bracelets around her wrist. She couldn't let herself think like that. She couldn't weigh herself down with 'what if's' when _everything_ would _definitely_ happen if she wasn't here. Glancing at the sleeping boy across from her she worked on emptying her thought. Everything had to be done in small steps, and whilst part of her mind was much older, her physical body and brain were only fourteen. Sometimes the older part was quiet and she'd feel like the age she was meant to be, like when she would play games as a small child. She couldn't control everything, barely anything actually. She just had to try her best.

Akane turned over, now facing the dog-sized frog that sat a few paces away, sitting quiet and alert. Sometimes this place was still so strange to be amongst. Another three days travel and she'd be in the centre point of the show she once loved and she had to make her mind calm and ready.

OOOO

 **A/N: Another slightly blabby-filler chapter before getting to the Place Where Things HappenTM. Let me know what you're thinking :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Not the owner of Naruto, sad times.**

OOOO

Akane had butterflies in her stomach. A response that seemed far too much how she should feel on a first date or speaking in public rather than how she should feel walking through a village full of ninja who could kill her and whom she was trying to join. She should feel foreboding, maybe a little fear. Not nervous excitement.

Jiraiya had gotten them through the gates with cheery smiles of recognition and a quick check of their identification papers. He was now proceeding to take them straight to the Hokage's tower where they could apply for residency. It was also, the man said, necessary for the Hokage to approve of their presence in a face to face meeting. Hence why Akane should be more nervous right now.

"Now this is what I'm fucking talking about. Big ass walls, big ass buildings, those fucking heads on the cliff. Feels powerful."

Hidan was gesturing around as he spoke, a slanted grin on his face. It was true. Compared to the scattered houses of the walless Yugakure, Konoha felt like a stronghold. Akane knew that the other Hidden Villages had a heavier presence but to Hidan this was a far cry from the village where they grew up.

They drew numerous gazes, whether it was because they were following Konoha's Sage Jiraiya around like lost ducklings or because they had a differing skin tone and hair colour from the norm around Konoha. Hidan's ridiculous scythe probably didn't help either.

Inside the Hokage tower they were directed to a friendly looking chunin who handed them a whole bunch of forms to fill in and who once again took their I.D. papers to make copies. While they stared in bewilderment at all the forms, Jiraiya had walked ahead into the Hokage's office, much to the chagrin of the lady sitting at a desk by the office door who looked like she wanted to protest but like she also knew it would be futile.

So far the office-staff had already shown more emotions in the few minutes they had been there than any of the staff in Yuga's admin building had shown the whole time Akane had lived there, which was nothing but amusing when considering that shinobi often prided themselves on keeping their emotions closed off when on duty.

"Fuck look at all these questions!" complained Hidan, "Blood type, family history, chakra type, affiliations, clans, hidden techniques! Can they even ask for that last one? Fucking hell."

"Just get it over with, if we want them to let us stay we just have to get on with it."

It took a good twenty minutes to fill in all the pages. About half way through Akane glanced up as a handful of people filed out of the Hokage's office. Clan heads by the looks of things as she spotted , Hiashi Hyuuga, Tsume Inuzuka, the current generation of Ino-Shika-Cho and an Aubrame, along with a few other people. Many looked non-subtly at the two teens doing paperwork, so Akane looked back, hoping she wasn't showing any signs of recognition, only curiosity. Jiraiya came out a few minutes later as they were finishing up.

"You guys can head through to Sensei now. After you hand that lot in I mean."

They handed their paperwork back to the chunin, who shuffled through quickly to check everything was answered. He looked a little perturbed at Hidan's scrawls of "they were weak motherfuckers" underneath 'Reasons for leaving previous nation.' but waved them towards the office door.

The Hokage was old, serious and gave an impression of being scrutinised from the instant they stepped through the door.

"So, yet more shinobi of another nation step through my doors. Tell me why."

OOOO

They were shown to a large apartment block with no choice of where they would be staying, though they did get the option of living together which was nice. From the moment they had left the Hokage tower Akane had been able to feel the slightest buzz of chakra at their backs. Whoever it was was suppressing their chakra well but were staying too close by for her senses to not pick it up every so often. The rest of their afternoon consisted of more paperwork for where they would live and for new I.D. papers. They had been given a map and a time and location for a psych and written tests tomorrow which would be followed by physical and medical tests the next day. Honestly Akane was surprised how easy it had all been, but then maybe it was in their favour that a large chunk of Konoha's population had just been massacred. A morbid benefit but a benefit nonetheless. Whilst the village was technically weakened, and so was extra cautious concerning new people, they were also aware that newcomers would be needed to fill the gap. The former came in the form of an unseen guard and the latter came in ease of access to the village.

Their new home was fairly average. A combined kitchen/living room/dining room with a couch, some shelves, a round table with four chairs and a manageable kitchen. They each had a bedroom with a single bed, wardrobe and small desk, and the bathroom was small but functional. Nothing to complain about. The décor was plain as hell, white walls, brown furniture, wood floors, neutral and plain in every way. The chunin showing them to the building gave the briefest outline of how and when to pay rent, gestured down the street that led to some shops and headed away after giving them their keys. The chakra buzz was lingering outside the window to the kitchen.

As the door closed they both heaved a sigh and then caught eyes and grinned.

"This place is not so fucking bad! The people look stronger at least, and the town itself like they actually give a shit."

"Yeah they do. Wasn't so hard to get in right. And they already have apartments for newcomers. I wonder how many people have turned up from Yugakure?"

"Fuck knows," Hidan replied, sticking his head through the doors to each bedroom, "You have a preference?" He gestured to the rooms.

"The one that you can see the cliff-heads from."

They each spent a few minutes unpacking the few things they had in sealing scrolls that they had bought specially for the trip. They only item Akane had that could be counted as 'decorative' was the bottle of red water she had which she placed on the windowsill. Her handful of clothes went into the wardrobe. She glanced around with disdain. _I need to get more shit._ She scrawled a quick note on a scrap of paper she had amongst her belongings; "Being watched, one guy by the window. Behave."

Heading into the kitchen she found Hidan opening the cupboards, each empty except one full of tableware, pots and pans. She tossed the scrunched up paper to him which he caught with ease and read quickly. He raised an eyebrow before going back to his search of the kitchen.

"Lets go get some food," Akane said, approaching Hidan, "You got much money left?"

"A bit, should last another week."

"Same," Akane sighed and glanced around the room, "This is so weird, we live together now. And they're doing their own tests to place us in the ranks. We might not be genin anymore. Probably won't be on the same team."

"Yeah, shit right? They better not put me with some fucking pussy's like Hiro. I know this place digs loyalty so I guess there's no point in fucking hoping for solo missions."

"We'll find out soon I guess."

Akane tossed the second set of keys over to Hidan and headed out.

OOOO

"When's that guy going to be here?" Hidan's voice called through the walls.

"In ten." Akane answered briefly, her head halfway through her shirt as she pulled it on. She finished gathering a few things, checking her hip pouch was stocked before heading to the bathroom. She swung the door open only for it to be obstructed by a leg sticking across the floor.

"I'm fucking busy in here."

Hidan was awkwardly sprawled on the bathroom floor, head between the gap between the shower and the sink and feet resting on either side of the toilet, his torso centred on the smaller than usual Jashin symbol smeared on the tiled floor. One hand grasped a knife plunged deep in his stomach.

"For fuck sake Hidan! The guy is gonna be here soon! You're cleaning this shit up!"

"You said he'd be here at ten, that's ages."

"No, I said he'd be here _in_ ten not _at_ ten. I need to brush my teeth."

Akane stepped forward into the little gap at Hidans side, her bare foot treading into something wet.

"Don't step on the fucking lines, bitch!"

Akane sighed and stepped up onto Hidan's chest instead, reaching over to grab her toothbrush.

"Akane! What the fuck man!" Hidan glowered up at her from the floor.

"Well 'what the fuck' to you too! In the _bathroom_?"

"I haven't had a sacrifice since that kid, that was five fucking days ago! I've giving Jashin-sama some of my own pain and blood as penance! The bathroom will be easier to clean than the wooden floors."

Akane ignored him, getting on with her morning routine, maybe shifting her weight onto one foot or the other every so often to dig a heel into the ribs of the dumb-ass on the floor. Hidan continued to move the knife in his stomach and let his blood flood across the floor. As she rinsed her toothbrush a knock at the door startled them both.

"Clean yourself up!" Akane ordered as she left the room.

She pulled the door open to find the same chunin from the day before standing there.

"I am here to escort you to the Interrogation Department where you and your companion Hidan will be taking your psych evalu..." he trailed off as he looked past her into the house.

Following his line of sight Akane cringed as she saw a trail of bloody footprints trailing from the bathroom door to where she stood. _Shit._

"Oh err, really heavy period this morning," _What the fuck was that Akane_ , "Must have missed a bit of the mess."

Naturally Hidan took this moment to step through the bathroom door, absolutely drenched in water and shuffling awkwardly through the door frame to not show the disaster inside the room. His trousers had patches of dark on them where he hadn't managed to soak the blood out.

"Morning. I just need to go get dressed."

"Morning..." the chunin replied uncertainly, "I'll just wait out here until the both of you are ready."

Akane resisted the urge to put her head in her hands and went to quickly wipe her feet clean and pulled on her sandals. Hidan emerged in clean, dry clothes.

"Well today could have started better. Hidan if you pass your psych evaluation, I'll clean the bathroom myself."

"Tch, I'll be fine bitch."

OOOO

The chunin had barely said a word as he lead them through the village, only speaking briefly as he passed them off to another pair of shinobi as they entered a large foyer to a building that seemed to have most of it's rooms underground, judging by the large sets of stairs leading down. After handing in all weapons and equipment from their person the were lead in separate directions.

Akane glanced around nervously at the high-ceiling of the dull room. It had grey walls, grey floor, a grey table and, of course, grey chairs. One wall was made out of one-way glass and the empty feeling of not even ambient chakra on the other side made Akane convinced that there were some kind of seals to suppress all chakra of the people who may be watching her.

The minutes ticked by and no one came in. apparently stage one was a patience test. Akane just sat quietly and gazed around the room, searching for a flaw in the paintwork, and uneven section on the floor, anything like that. Her mind briefly flickered to Hidan, wondering if he was sitting still, patience wasn't his strong point. Eventually the door slammed open and Akane completely failed to suppress her jump of surprise, absorbed as she had become in tracking scratches in the table with her eyes. She turned to look at the guy, relieved beyond belief that it wasn't Ibiki who just stepped through the door. He was really plain looking; dark hair, lightly tanned skin, easily one of the dozens of background characters from the show. He wore a grey jacket and Konoha headband tied on his forehead. He sat opposite her and placed a folder one his right and a pile of papers on his left.

"Akane Chinoike, age fourteen, previously of Yugakure which has recently forgone it's status as a Hidden Village. Correct?"

Holy crap that voice was not what she expected, it's was positively _sultry_. Deep and rich.

"Yep, all correct."

"This is just a standard evaluation to make sure you are suitable to join the military forces of Konohagakure, nothing to worry about."

Was he trying to be reassuring? Akane suddenly realised Interrogation was not an area she had any clue about. It hadn't been brought up in Yugakure, at least not to her team, so she had no idea what counted as normal procedure.

"First I'm going to ask a series of questions, just answer with whatever comes to you first. Understood?"

"Yes."

"What are your first impressions of Konoha?"

"It's nice. Feels more secure than Yuga."

"Why did you leave your village?"

"They de-armed. I had no place there anymore."

"Does this anger you?"

"No, they did what they needed to do."

"Why do you wish to continue to be a shinobi?"

"I want to make a difference. To be able to fight for what is needed."

"And what is needed?"

"Peace," damn what a cliché answer, "At least stability between the nations to reduce needless deaths."

"So you wish to reduce needless deaths by being part of the forces that kill people?"

"It is a necessary path for a desirable goal."

"Why Konoha?"

"It has a reputation for strength and I met someone who told me Konoha may be willing to let me live here."

"Who?"

"Jiraiy-sama."

The man didn't change expression but the pause was fractionally longer before the next question.

"If you met someone from Yuga who stood in the way of a Konoha mission, what would you do?"

"Depends how well I knew them. If they used to be a friend I would try to reason with them or get them to stand aside."

"And if they refused?"

"... I don't know."

Well that was probably the wrong answer.

"The boy you arrived with, are you close?"

"We've known each other a long time. I trust him to have my back."

"If he is not deemed fit for service, what will you do?"

"Depends on what he does."

"If he leaves?"

"I don't know."

Akane didn't like these questions, it wasn't something she had put much thought into. _Would_ she stay if Hidan left?

"How many people have you killed?"

"Erm, I haven't kept count but can't be more than twenty."

"Why did you kill them?"

"Because they posed a threat or were part of a mission."

"Have you ever hurt someone without it being part of training, a mission or an order."

"Not beyond a slap or punch."

These last few questions did not bode well for Hidan. Either he gave truthful answers and seemed unstable or tried to lie and risked them catching on.

The man was apparently, a little abruptly, done with his questions. He slid a stack of paper over to Akane along with a pencil.

"You now must fill in these questionnaires. There's no time limit but it would be preferred if you didn't take all day."

Akane glanced down at the pages. These looked more like something from her old world. True/False questions and ratings of agreement from one to five for different personality statements. It didn't take her too long to answer most of them, though she was forever aware of the presence across the table from her whose stare burned into the crown of her head. As she slid the last page across to the guy he stood and held the door open.

"That is all. Return to the foyer until your chunin guide returns."

"That's it?" Akane was surprised. "Did I pass?"

"Well, you didn't fail."

OOOO

 **A/N: A slightly boring chapter but all the necessary crap to get the ball rolling in Konoha. I have literally no clue how an interrogation/psych evaluation would go so I just winged it, hope it was ok.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this**

OOOO

Hidan smirked at the jonin's face as the woman's kunai drove into his stomach and he made no move to dodge. She clearly thought she'd messed up and overestimated his skills so far into the fight. A movement in his peripheral vision showed one of the older shinobi watching rising to his feet, about to interfere. He pulled himself back from the kunoichi's blade and pressed and hand into the wound, making sure liberal amounts of his blood sprayed onto the floor. He swept his foot across the dirt in familiar movements, taking advantage of the woman's sudden hesitation. She was there to test him, not to kill him, and this gave Hidan a little extra time to work with. He'd started the match with just hand to hand combat and his scythe, showing as much of his skill as he could. Akane and he had agreed that trying to hide any of their talents wasn't going to help them here. They decided to go all out to stop them from being dredged back into the lowest ranks.

The brown-haired lady looked a little confused at the symbol as she tried to deduce what technique she was about to face. She threw a handful of shuriken at him and started to weave her hands in a sequence of seals Hidan didn't recognise but would guess at being some kind of water technique. He raised his arm and licked at some blood that had sprayed across his skin from a punch he had landed on the woman's face splitting her lip. Admittedly Hidan could recognise that in a regular fight he probably would never have landed that hit; the woman wasn't fighting at full power in order to see his full range. Didn't mean he wasn't going to take every opportunity though.

He quickly plunged the blades of his scythe into his arm before she could finish her jutsu. The last thing he needed was a bunch of water to mess up his symbol on the ground. The woman flinched in surprise and broke her concentration. A small laugh burst for his mouth at her reaction. No one ever expected his techniques. She began to run at him with a kunai again and he laughed harder, had she not noticed what was going on? Damn stupid bitch. Looks like she was going to try and make him jump out of his circle. Like with her earlier attack he just stood still.

She cried out in pain as she thrust her kunai into his chest, grasping her hands to her own chest.

"Want to take another shot?" Hidan mocked, pulling the kunai slowly from his upper ribs and holding it out to her.

The kunoichi looked up at him and raised her hand in a sign of submission.

"I forfeit," she called.

"Fuck yeah you do!" Hidan cheered, turning to look at the group watching.

Akane was smiling at him slightly, to her side Jiraiya, the Hokage and some old dude covered in bandages had serious expressions. The others gathered ranged from bewildered, to scowling, to cautious. A medi-nin was approaching rapidly.

"Hidan-san, I need to know the specifics of your jutsu. Is she permanently hurt?" the man asked, kneeling down to the kunoichi who still had her hands pressed to her chest and was gasping for breath. Hidan placed a hand to his own chest and prodded around.

"Think she nicked a fucking lung slightly. Healed fast though so it wasn't too deep," Hidan deduced, "So her left lung, near the bottom somewhere, that'll need fixing."

The doctor scowled slightly at Hidan's nonchalant tone as he leaned forward, hands glowing green. A few minutes passed before the woman was escorted to the side of the field and Hidan went over to the group by the side.

"Akane-san," announced the Hokage, "You will be the next to face your opponent."

Hidan smirked at the girl as they passed each other and she smiled back. The training field where they were being tested was liberally covered in Hidan's blood and Akane looked confident.

OOOO

Akane recognised her opponent once he stepped forward, with his small circular sunglasses pushed up with a finger as he approached and bandanna covered head. Ebisu. If Akane remembered correctly he prided himself on perfecting basic techniques and was a bit of a closeted pervert, not that she felt any need to take advantage of _that_ weakness. He looked stern and serious as he approached. After Hidan's display it seemed he was wary of underestimating her. Akane scowled internally at his glasses. She had been hoping to have a small go at trying to use a clan genjutsu to make her opponent drowsy but she doubted her ability to do so if she couldn't make eye contact.

She started her fight much as Hidan had, with taijutsu; trying to display her flexibility and speed as she darted around her opponent who was using a tightly controlled form of fighting. She kept her sword sheathed for now. With each step, each touch down of her foot onto the ground Akane pushed a little of her chakra into the blood on the ground. And with each direct contact of her hands she pushed a little drop of her chakra into the man's skin. This she could do without activating her eyes but it drained her chakra quite rapidly. She darted back in evasive manoeuvres to draw Ebisu towards the most condensed areas of blood. It wasn't long before the man began to gain the upper hand in combat, he had been on a team with Gai after all so it was unlikely she'd ever be able to defeat him in taijutsu.

Akane flooded her eyes with chakra, saturating them with the darkest shade of blood and raised one arm into the air as the other drew her sword. The blood from the ground spiked into the air in a large radius from where she stood. Ebisu jumped backwards, away from her, pushing his glasses up once more as he landed. Akane pressed forward, directing three ribbons of blood through the air to twist and tangle around the man, each tendril separating and lashing out at random moments. She darted between each flash of red with her sword, staying alert at all times as the man used kawarimi to get behind her, to appear across the training field. He tried a genjutsu at one point but the foreign chakra felt like a splinter of clashing energy in her system and she broke it fairly quickly.

Endurance, however, was not one of Akane's strong points and she began to lose traction. Her side was bruised and her cheek cut from a hastily dodged shuriken. It was time to end the fight. She closed the distance to her opponent and struck out with her chokuto. Just as Ebisu raised his arm to deflect the blow she pushed all her concentration to the chakra she had laced into his blood. Her other tendrils of blood splashed to the ground as she lost control of them. She froze his arm in place just long enough to hold her chokuto against his throat and their exhausting dance came to a halt.

"Fuck yeah!" Hidan cheered through the silence of the other shinobi.

OOOO

Akane scrubbed the tiles with angry vigour. They hadn't been told for certain if they'd passed all their tests until the day after their physical tests. Hidan had stubbornly refused to clean the floor because she had said she would clean it if he passed his psych evaluation and he'd be damned if he'd clean it before they even knew. So now the job was even worse cause the blood had had nearly two full days to dry between each ridge.

After learning that they'd passed they had both been given Leaf headbands and told that they were now officially chunin and given Konoha Standard flak jackets. She cracked up as she thought of Hidan standing there in his green jacket. It really wasn't his style. Akane wasn't particularly fond of her own neither, she wouldn't be making it part of her wardrobe. She rose to her feet and threw her blood stained cloth in the bin, it wasn't worth redeeming.

"You missed a spot," Hidan said leaning in the doorway.

"Fuck off," Akane snapped.

"Aw is the little bitch sad that she was fucking wrong."

"No, the little bitch is annoyed that she scrubbed _your_ blood off the floor for like two hours. That stuff _sticks_."

"Whatever. I'm heading out. Supposed to be meeting my new team in a bit. If they're shite I'm sacrificing them to Jashin-sama."

"I hope you're joking."

Hidan just shrugged and turned to leave.

Chunin didn't have rigidly set teams like the genin had but Hidan and Akane had both been informed they would be working with a team for now, to learn Konoha's way of working. They were, as expected, separate teams. Konoha didn't trust them enough yet to let them be together all the time.

The reactions they had gained at their fighting tests had been varied. Certainly, many were surprised. Both of them were only fourteen and Yugakure wasn't know for putting out strong shinobi. Akane hoped they hadn't been wrong to show their talents off. Her bloodline would put a target on her back and Hidan's ability to deal with huge damage and link his own pain to others would be invaluable in the right hands. She had shuddered at the calculating gaze of Danzo as he had watched from the sidelines, like hell she'd let that creep get anywhere near her or Hidan.

OOOO

 _Konoha's wasted no time in getting me integrated with clan kids_ , Akane thought as she crossed the field she had been told to go to to meet her team. One as sprawled in the grass, dark hair tied in a high ponytail as he stared at the sky. The second was stood neatly and formally, awaiting her arrival with patience. Akane wondered idly just _how ingrained_ were the personality traits of each clan.

"Erm, hi," she started a little awkwardly.

"Hello Chinoike-san, my name is Kō Hyuuga and that over there is Kasuga Nara," the boy on the ground raised an arm of acknowledgement, "Gaku-sensei hasn't arrived yet though he should be here shortly."

"Ok, cool."

She looked closer at Kō, feeling a niggle of memory but couldn't quite place him. She didn't recognise the Nara boy at all.

"So you're both chunin too right? I didn't realise Konoha kept their teams together even after promotion."

"Teamwork is a strong focal point of Konoha's strength. Teams on missions become much more flexible after promotion but, traditionally, most genin teams continue to train and work together as they can already work as a cohesive unit."

"So I'm going to make your team less strong?" Akane summarised.

"Our third team member is no longer with us. Having a new member will correct the imbalance her loss has made."

"Oh, sorry about that," _Good job Akane, just remind them they lost a friend._

"Ah you're all here, excellent!" a new voice added.

A man approached wearing standard uniform with the trademark Inuzuka red triangle tattoos on his face. The dog at his side was a huge, hulking breed with brown fur.

"You must be Akane-san, my name is Gaku Inuzuka and this here is Kenta," the dog gave a deep booming bark, "I've read your file and you should mesh perfectly with this team."

"I'll try my best, Gaku-sensei."

OOOO

Despite being second to leave, Akane was the first back into the flat. She dumped herself down onto the couch and sighed. Trying to be part of a new team was exhausting, tying to be cheery all day in the face of a rigid Hyuuga and a laid-back Nara was more tiring than if she'd just had to spar with them. She thought of Hiro and Kaito and Daichi-sensei, wondering idly if she could have convinced them all to stay together and just wander the nations. That seems like such a chill idea.

Both her teammates and her sensei were all Clan members too. That wasn't a very subtle way of saying 'look at how well clans do here'. Give it a few more years and Akane expects she will be encouraged to marry or at least have kids, to tie herself down to the village and increase her bloodline. She'd be damned if anyone had, or even attempted to have, any say over those kinds of thing in _her_ life.

The door slammed open and Hidan dragged himself through. He leaned his scythe against the kitchen cupboards and sat on the arm of the couch by Akane's head.

"So how was your fucking day?"

"I think I'd give my left arm to just have Kaito and Hiro back."

"Tch, same. I'm with some fucking boring-ass guy who creams of being an _Academy teacher,_ the fuck kind of ambition is that and a bitch who kept saying swearing is for dumb-asses who can't think of anything more intelligent to say."

Akane snorted, "She might be onto something there."

"Fuck off Akane." Hidan jabbed her in the stomach, "You have any better luck?"

"A quiet deadbeat of a Nara who seemed happy to sleep through training and a stuck up Hyuuga. Could have been worse I guess."

"I'm just going to fucking push to be a jonin then I can do what I fucking want. No more shitty teams."

"That might be a good idea, we'll have more freedom as jonin at least."

"Come on, let's go get food, I'm fucking starving."

Akane and Hidan trailed through the streets, looking for somewhere they wanted to eat. It was still early evening and the streets were bustling with life.

"Hey Akane, look over there."

Akane followed Hidan's pointed finger to a ramen stand where a two figures sat together, and a grin split her face and she headed forwards.

"Ginko-sensei, Ryo-san!"

Both figures started in surprise and turned to face the voice, a beaming grin crossed Ryo's face and a small upturn of the lips adorned Ginko's.

"Akane-chan, Hidan-kun. I thought you two might turn up here eventually."

OOOO

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned down at the glass ball as the picture faded away. The two newest additions to his ranks caused him a little concern.

The girl could be useful, a new bloodline to thrive in the place of Konoha's lost dojutsu. She was strong for her age and seemed to bond well with others. If no miss-steps were made she cold be tied tightly to the village, becoming a beneficial tool. The back-up plan was to allow Danzo to envelope her into the roots of the tree. The man had already approached the subject on the day of the teens physical testing but Hiruzen had asked that the man waited. If she could be tied down openly as a new clan it would do more for Konoha's public image than if she was sequestered away.

The boy, however, was risky. He'd barely scraped through his psych evaluation. He was loud brash and followed a God who encouraged violence towards all. If it wasn't for the fact they'd lose any hope of turning the Chinoike girl he would have had the boy eliminated already. Jiraiya had seemed confident those many months ago that the girl would arrive alone. But here the boy was and the Hokage wasn't so happy about that.

OOOO

Orochimaru frowned down at the files in his hands. The two newest additions to Konoha's ranks were intriguing but currently in a place where he couldn't reach.

The girl was intriguing. He had found documentation of her clan in Kumogakure many years ago but all trace of them had faded into history after their forced removal by the Uchiha. BY all accounts her bloodline was not the strongest he had come across but blood was something so useful, so adaptable, that Orochimaru had no doubt he could garner some uses from the girl.

The boy, however, drew his attention even more. He glanced at the word underlined on the paper sent by his little Konoha spy, ' _Immortal?_ '. Supposedly from the dedicated worship of a God. But what if it was something more. Some innate bloodline or skill. A unique chakra that happened to arise at the same time as the boy's finding of religion. It was too intriguing, too tantalising. The possibility that Orochimaru would be able to replicate the boys ability fascinated him. He needed to know more.

OOOO

 **A/N: Another chapter that just feels like slightly dull set-up for things to come. I had actually put considerable thought into whether or not I was going to have Hidan join Konoha with Akane but I was mostly swayed by the idea that I've never read a fic where he _has._**

 **Akane's new team are al minor but canon characters, just google their names, I named the dog though**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: The owner of Naruto is not me.**

 **A/N! It was pointed out that I made a mistake with Hiruzen saying the back up plan was to let Danzo pull Akane into Root, which was wrong because Hiruzen told Danzo to disband Root after the Uchiha massacre. My bad. But I'm hoping that it won't matter too much. Thanks Puppet Dragon for pointing that out :)**

OOOO

Akane swept her arm up to block Ginko-sensei's incoming blow and smiled at his memorable movements. It had been such a nice surprise to see the two from Yugakure here three weeks ago. Familiar faces in a sea of new ones. They had taken to regularly meeting up in their free time to train, share knowledge of Konoha or just to chat. Ginko was still not very talkative but Ryo-san more than made up for that. Apparently, the man had said, Hiro was settling in very well to the life of a blacksmith and sent regular letters out to his older brother.

She and Ginko stepped through a series of katas, swords clanging in the misty morning air. It was a relaxing kind of practice this morning, steady movements rather than a determined assault to get the upper hand. To their side Hidan and Ryo were taking a considerably different approach to start of their day, swinging at each other in pure taijutsu mixed with what Akane was convinced look like wrestling. Akane had been worried that Hidan wanted to leave in the first few weeks. He didn't overly like his new team, Konoha had been reluctant to start sending them on missions, still uncertain of their loyalty to the village. But he had cheered up as of late as they had more spars between the four currently in the training field together – people who weren't intimidated by his methods or disgusted by his mannerisms. His team had come to tolerate him and Akane hoped to push this further later in the week as she'd taken a risk and asked both her team and his out for dinner together. Don't know until you try right?

"Hey Ginko, Ryo, you guys free this Friday for dinner? Just a heads up it's with mine _and_ Hidan's new teams."

OOOO

"Why did you fucking set this up? I see them plenty at training and shit," complained Hidan.

"You could do with more friends. And its a good way for all of us to get closer."

"I have _you_ and you're annoying as fuck."

"Shut up."

Akane's team of Kasuga, Kō and Gaku were all at the barbecue restaurant already, seated at a long table, along with two other teens sat awkwardly at the other end of the table. When Hidan described his other male teammate as being someone who wanted to be an academy teacher she had wondered. And sure enough the boy sat there fidgeting was Iruka Umino, spiky hair defying gravity. Admittedly his scar across his nose looked considerably more vicious when face to face. The girl beside him looked like she could possibly be a Yamanaka. Akane approached them first after smiling at her own team.

"Hi! You guys must be Hidan's team. I'm Akane."

"I'm Inaba! So you've known Hidan a long time right?" asked the girl.

"Yeah since we were both about eight or nine. We went to the Academy together."

"What made him so moody and foul-mouthed?"

"Hey fuck off bitch! Nothing _made_ me like this."

"Hidan you're kind of proving her point," sighed Akane, "I think he just popped into the world stuck like this."

"Well you're a bitch too," grumbled Hidan as he moved to take a seat on the other side of Iruka.

"And what's your name?" Akane asked the boy as she walked around the table to sit opposite Hidan.

"Iruka." The boy looked a little uncomfortable next to Hidan, they hadn't gotten off to the best start.

"Err well, this is my team Ko," the boy nodded politely, "Kasuga," a lazy wave, "and our sensei Gaku," a big grin from the oldest at the table.

"So how's your morni-"

"Are we late Akane-chan! Oh hey it's Gaku-san, right?" Ryo trailed in jauntily and looked at their sensei. Ginko was following at a slower pace.

"Sure is," Gaku replied, "And it's Ryo-san, right? I was there for your entry test to the village."

"Yep! And that," he gestured to the white haired man moving to sit in a spare seat, "Is Ginko. Nice to meet you all. Is this everyone?"

"Our sensei isn't here. But he didn't actually say if he was coming." piped up Inada.

"You'e taught by Namiashi-san right?" asked Gaku, "He's one of the busiest guys I know so who knows if he'll be here. I say we just order some food."

The Akimichi-ran restaurant served impressive portions of food. The afternoon went surprisingly smoothly. The upside of a large group is that someone always thinks of something to say. Akane did her best to chat in a way that included both Hidan and his two teammates, joking about ridiculous situations they've found themselves in such as Hidan losing his arm for the first time. Hidan and Akane laughed but the other chunin just looked a bit unsettled at the thought of losing an arm. Ryo was quick to save _that_ conversation, thankfully, by changing it instead to mishaps in training. Akane was surprised to find that Hidan took a slight liking to the Nara boy on her team as they discussed the Nara deer which linked to the respect of Gods.

They had almost finished eating when a new figure arrived. Raido Namiashi hadn't really been wanting to train a young team but when the Hokage asked him to take less Guard hours in order to take over a chunin team, particularly to keep an eye on a new kid from Yuga, he couldn't exactly say no. These couple of weeks hadn't been too bad but he didn't see the kids meshing as a unit any time soon. He'd been surprised when the least amicable of the team had brought up a group meal but it was clear that his female friend had considerable sway in that decision.

The girl in question was waving her arms emphatically to some story, holding the attention of most of the table. He almost felt bad to interrupt. Almost.

"You guys are going to do extra laps of Konoha today to work off all that food," Raido stated, raising an eyebrow at the impressive number of empty plates at the table.

"Ah Raido-san, I was wondering if you'd make it!" boomed Gaku. He and Ryo had been having a good go at the restaurants sake selection, "Come sit! Have a drink with us!"

"No, no, I was just checking in," he assured.

The man didn't stay long, just long enough to introduce himself to the others. The group began to tail off in chunks from then onwards. Akane was happy with how it had gone.

"Now, was that so bad Hidan?" she sang patronisingly.

"Fuck off Akane."

OOOO

Akane finally had a mission outside of the village walls. She and Kasuga were being sent out on a supply-drop mission to an outpost near Tanzaku Quarters. The trip should only take two days; one day there, one day back but Akane was glad to be out of the village for a little while. It showed that the village had deemed her trustworthy to go out of the safety of the village, with a clan kid no less. Hidan had still had no such luck, but he was complaining a lot less about each day he had to spend with his team.

Kasuga was more awake than Akane had ever seen him. He darted from branch to branch with alert certainty, a stark contrast from the boy who usually dozed through training. Akane got the feeling he hadn't been out of the village without the rest of the team before.

The trip there was uneventful, much to Akane's slight disappointment. They reached the outpost in good time and handed over a dozen or so storage scrolls to the head shinobi. Akane glanced over to he Nara, who still looked pretty tense.

"Hey Kasuga, we have the rest of the night off. Want to go eat or something."

"I want to go have a lie down somewhere."

Akane glanced around and spotted a hill not too far away.

"That spot looks good."

The boy didn't complain so she lead them to the grassy hill and the settled at the peak. Kasuga sank down into the grass as though it was a luxurious bed, Akane sat next to him. It was a simple, bright day. A few clouds, a light breeze and mild sun; very standard. A little in the distance, West of the outpost building, lay the cluttered town of Tanzaku. Akane had heard enough stories of drunks and gambling from some shinobi who were stationed out here and she had no desire to see the town any closer. She glanced instead at her teammate who was looking much more at peace in the grass.

"You ok Kasuga? You've been tense as fuck since we left the village."

"That friends of yours' language is rubbing off on you," he snorted, "But yeah I'm alright. First time out the village since the Uchiha incident. Feels weird not having her at my back you know?"

"You must have been close," Akane said quietly.

"Yeah...I really liked her."

Akane left it at that. She hadn't been the closest to Hiro and Kaito but she couldn't imagine how it would feel if one of them had died whilst they were still a team. At least it wasn't something she had to worry too much about Hidan.

They spent the rest of the evening in comfortable silence, making vague comments here and there on passing clouds or birds but little more. They headed to the outpost for food and sleep as the sun finally tucked itself beyond the horizon.

OOOO

The journey back was not so smooth.

Akane could feel the buzz of four chakra, each incoming from a different direction. They'd passed other people along the way, so close to Konoha it wasn't uncommon, but these energy signals were headed straight for them.

"Kasuga! Get down!" Akane warned as she leapt out of the tree tops and down to the ground.

Above her head she heard the whistle of a dozen or so kunai which she had barely ducked under. _Shit_ , she thought, activating her dojutsu. Kasuga touched down at her side, but the kunai had very clearly been aimed at her.

All four of the shinobi appeared together, standing in a loose circle around the two teens. They were dressed simply in greys and purples, with no headbands in sight.

"You should have gone to Sound when you had the _choice_ , girl. It's been decided now that you must be taken to the Otokage whether you want to or not."

 _Oh double shit._

She hadn't been around Kasuga long enough for hand signals to be enough to communicate. They needed to get out of here and fast. It was still a two hour run to Konoha's walls. She drew her sword right as all of the attackers leapt forward at once. She was immediately on the defensive.

Kasuga had drawn kunai and was throwing as many as he could to ward off the Sound-nin, trying to get enough time to implement his clan techniques. Akane gasped in pain as a kunoichi darted behind her and stuck a kunai into her thigh as Akane was too busy warding off two more attackers at her front. Panicked, she flung out her hand and the gash in her thigh flowed with blood, faster than Akane had managed to get it to move before, piercing in long spikes through the woman's stomach. She crumpled to the floor. The two men in front of her were both stronger but seemed unused to working together, sometimes getting a little too close to one another's attacks.

"Akane!" called Kasuga, "I can't hold him long!"

Akane didn't even have a second to spare to look at her teammate as she had enough problems of her own, but by his words she assumed he had managed to catch the opponent in his Shadow Technique. She slipped her hand into her pouch and took out a smoke bomb – a recent purchase. As she threw it down she used shushin to get behind Kasuga's frozen opponent and slit his throat with her sword, though her leg wobbled dangerously as she landed on it.

"Go Kasuga! Come on!"

She let a wave of adrenaline course through her body as they began to run. She had no idea how fast the two remaining opponents would be at moving through the trees. Her leg was pouring with blood, and whilst the pain hadn't truly sunk in yet, it was going to soon.

"Kasuga, my leg is hurt. I need you to get to Konoha and go get help."

"That's the opposite of what we're supposed to do."

"It's either that or we both probably die!" snapped Akane.

She stumbled slightly as her injured leg hit the next tree branch.

"Just don't fucking argue, get fucking help."

Another kunai flew past her head, the two chakra's behind her were getting very close. Three steps later her leg full-out buckled beneath her on impact.

Kasuga hesitated.

"I swear to fuck Kasuga! Go. Get. Help!" she growled as she moved with her fall to land on the ground.

 _Here we fucking go_ , she thought, watching Kasuga streak away in her peripheral vision and the two ninja approach from her other side. _That tidal wave of water from the Valley of Hell would be so good right now._

She raised her arms in the air in the universal sign of surrender, hoping the two shinobi would take it. They didn't attack the second they reached her, but the didn't approach to apprehend her either.

"Can' say I believe you're actually giving up, little girly," sneered the man to the left of her, "Maybe if you put all your things on the ground?"

Akane hesitated, she didn't actually intend to surrender but right now, standing with all her weight on her left leg and blood poring down her right, maybe it was her best chance of survival.

 _Oh God what am I doing?_ She began to place her items on the floor. Slowly, one by one, like that was going to make a huge difference. It was going to take Kasuga at least an hour at full speed to reach the village.

"Good, now take a few steps back," the other shinobi ordered.

She did so, until her items were completely out of reach. Her eyes were still activated and they hadn't mentioned it. Maybe they didn't know she could deactivate them? She'd had them 'on' since before they had actually approached. She looked at the guy on the left.

"Why does Orochimaru want me?" That caught his attention.

"We never mentioned that name." he drawled, but he leveled his eyes with her in what he probably thought was an intimidating glare. She saw an opportunity.

"Oh you know," _Sleep_ , "seemed obvious enough," _sleep_ , she thought of tiredness and comfy beds and damn she needs to learn more about how genjutsu actually works, "a creepy village pops up," _come on, sleep!_ , "You're wearing purple, that seems like his colour." She pushed her chakra harder into her eyes, ignoring her own wave of fatigue, _sleep!_ The guy slumped to the ground as though with narcolepsy.

"Fuck yeah!" she grinned, and then instantly jumped back as a fist launched at her stomach. She rolled forwards awkwardly under the next blow and stumbled to her pile of belongings, landing on her knees. She turned to look at her opponent as she grabbed her sword. He was dramatically unfurling a scroll. An image of Ten-Ten unleashing a wave of weapons crossed her mind and she flung herself to one side, towards the unconscious shinobi. Correctly, it seemed, as her pouch, belt and storage scroll of belongings were liberally pierced with a variety of thrown weapons.

A groan to her side alerted her that her genjutsu was very short lived, and she quickly plunged her sword into the man's lower back which she had easy access to at this angle. A flicker of chakra right behind her had her rolling again and she briefly wondered how ridiculous her current techniques made her look. But rolling around on the ground was easier right now than trying to get her injured leg to cooperate. A wave of dizziness washed through her head as she looked up at the final opponent. He loomed over her with a kunai in each hand and she lay panting on her back on the ground, her sword lodged out of arms reach in the body of another guy.

 _Well this is fucking fantastic._

On the edge of her senses she felt a new chakra crackle. There was no way Kasuga would be back yet so who the hell was this? Please be a fucking friend.

OOOO

 **A/N; So slightly cliff -hanger-ish, my bad but it was getting kind of long.**

 **Couple of questions: Did Konoha know Orochimaru was the Otokage before the Chunin Exams? Cause I'm not actually sure.**

 **And is Hidan ok? Yell at me if he's getting too OOC. I just feel like he'd maybe be able to make a few more friends after this long of hanging out with Akane.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I have no rights to the Naruto franchise, sadly.**

OOOO

When Akane was late coming home, Hidan didn't really care. He mooched around their flat with little aim. Reading through his well-used book on Jashinism and generally killing time. He did his best to make some food but cooking really was more Akane's thing.

By the time it was getting dark, he was mostly just getting annoyed. _Why couldn't that bitch let him know if she was doing something else._ He knew she'd made a decent friendship with her teammates so maybe after her mission she'd gone to celebrate her first proper Konoha task with them.

When a knock came at his door, and opened to reveal the Nara boy from Akane's team, who Akane was _supposed_ to be with, he felt a drop deep in his stomach that he had never experienced before. He suddenly realised that maybe he should have been worried after all. He dealt with this new feeling by changing it to one he knew well; rage.

"Where the fuck is she Nara?" he growled, pushing the door back as far as it would go and leaning towards the dark-haired boy.

"We were attacked on the road. I ran to get help because we were outnumbered and they were too strong. I already led a team out to go get her but..." Kasuga was rambling to get the story off but he trailed off.

"But fucking what?" Hidan snarled.

"She was already gone."

Hidan slammed the door behind him and started towards Kasuga, suddenly appreciating his taller and bulkier frame. A whole bunch of emotions were streaking through him but he focused instead on the Nara.

"How could you have fucking left her!? What a fucking coward!" Hidan was getting very loud now.

"She told me to! It was our only -" he was cut off with a choke as Hidans forearm crashed across his throat and shoved him into the wall of the corridor.

"Who took her? What village?"

"They said something about the Otokage. That Akane should have taken them up on an earlier choice."

"Fuck!" Hidan released Kasuga and stormed off into the flat to get his scythe.

"Hidan-san the Hokage has been informed! I'm sure he will send a team after her. You wouldn't be effective alone."

Hidan thought for a second, "Then I won't fucking go alone."

The seething teen shoved his way past the Nara and off into the street. Kasuga looked down at his feet and sighed, one hand massaging his throat. He'd messed up and another teammate was in danger and this time he had had been able to do something about it. He was useless.

OOOO

"Oto is weird isn't it? It's just a series of bunkers." whispered Ryo, as they approached the biggest building in the area that they had come across.

Hidan glanced at the other two ex-Yuga-nin and, though he wouldn't say it out loud, he was glad they had agreed to come along. Even though, _technically,_ they had all left the village without permission and were deserters to a second village. There was no way any of them would leave Akane in danger though and in all honesty they hadn't been in the village long enough to have any true loyalty to it.

They had taken two and a half days to reach the so-called Hidden Village, much faster than it had taken Hidan and Akane the first time they had travelled in the opposite direction. From there it had been a case of tracking down Oto-nin, listening into conversations and, where possible, grabbing an unsuspecting nin to... _question_ them. Each new discovery had lead them deeper into the network of strange buildings that called itself a Hidden Village. It was the fourth night, when Hidan was on watch to let the other two grab a couple hours of sleep when he heard a piercing scream. It sounded a lot like Akane. He sat bolt upright, eyes weaving around in the darkness. He turned to wake his two sleeping teammates, only to find they were no longer at his back where they had gone to sleep.

"Fuck! What the hell guys?" he murmured. He frowned in confusion but couldn't place what exactly was wrong. Hidan could of sworn his teammates had been there and he couldn't think of any reason why they would wander off without him. He jumped down from the tree from where he'd been keeping watch, highly alert. Another cry slashed through the still air, this one filled with pain.

"Akane?"

Hidan began to step towards the nearest building, scythe held aloft in one hand. He had to know where the screams were coming from. The feeling of metal clamping down on his wrists jolted Hidan out of his strange state as his chakra was blocked, breaking the genjutsu. Only a brief second was available for him to berate himself for believing Ginko and Ryo would just wander off. He glanced up into snake-like yellow eyes before he saw darkness.

OOOO

"Hidan? Why the hell would he wander off now? I swear if he got himself into trouble, here of all places..."

"Ryo, calm down. There's a faint trace of him leading towards the building but it's joined by another set of footprints," Ginko observed.

"He's been taken too?"

"There's no sign of combat. And we didn't wake, it must have been a very quiet job. Wait," he paused, cocking his head to listen intently, "Shit, Ryo, get down."

They pushed themselves into the thick under-brush between the trees and suppressed their chakra, steadying their breathing to be as quiet as possible. Four figures leaped down from the trees and one stepped forward. Ryo let out a stream of air as he recognised the ANBU uniforms of the Leaf Village.

"Ishii-san, Nishimura-san, come out. The Hokage has sent us to retrieve you before this situation becomes irredeemable. Should you choose not to comply you will be banned from re-entering Konoha."

The man that spoke had a bird-like mask and was the only one of the group that didn't have a weapon drawn. Ginko ran a hand through his hair in frustration before standing slowly.

"Our friend was taken and we couldn't wait around until it was too late to help her. And now another of our team is missing. You should be helping us retrieve them, not making us leave."

He kept his voice as calm as possible but keeping his tone strong and clear to show that he would not be swayed on this.

"Our orders did not include the rescue of Akane-san. Only the return of potentially disloyal and very _new_ members of Konoha," the man said, his voice easing into tones of derision. Clearly he wasn't a fan of the newest additions to his village.

"Then," Ryo stood next to Ginko, "I'm afraid we will be declining. And here I thought the whole ethic of Konoha was teamwork and loyalty and yet you would ask us to leave a friend behind? I guess we don't _want_ to be part of Konoha after all."

There was an uneasy silence as the ANBU shifted to a more ready position, clearly waiting for a signal to engage the two ex-Yuga nin. Instead another ANBU stepped forward. This one with a Dog mask.

"There was no proof that Chinoike-san was definitely brought here. Infiltrating now could cause unnecessary tension between the two villages."

"Even if Akane isn't here, Hidan sure as hell _is_ missing now!" Ryo argued, clenching his hands into fists, "So you either take us away right now, by force, or you help us get our _teammate_ back and then we all go back to Konoha with our pride and places in the village intact."

The man in the Dog mask tilted his head slightly in thought before turning to the rest of his team to convey his orders.

OOOO

The smell of damp and a chill on her back was what Akane awoke to. She immediately tensed as she realised that the last thing she remembered was a sharp pain in her neck and her eyes flew open. A grey, featureless room barely big enough to lie down in greeted her blurry vision. Her damaged leg was throbbing with pain, feeling weak and stiff at the same time. Glancing down, it was clear that someone not skilled in medicine had done their best to wrap the wound in bandages. They were tight enough that she hadn't bled out whilst unconscious but the bandages were looking pretty saturated so clearly the blood was barely being staunched. She raised a hand to prod gently at the side of neck, her fingers coming away with the slightest taint of blood and the scent of chemicals. Sitting up Akane moved to rest her back on the wall, turning so she faced the door to the room. She reached up to jiggle the door handle despite knowing it would be locked; it would be far more embarrassing if she didn't try and it turned out it was open. A faint tingle of individual chakras littered the space around her. One outside her door, multiple above her and some distant. Another was moving away down the hall from her door, probably someone who had noticed her move the door handle and were going to tell someone.

Sighing, Akane tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling, trying to think through the pounding headache courtesy of whatever they'd knocked her out with. She hadn't seen who had approached when she faced down the final Oto-nin, but obviously they weren't friendly. Maybe a back up team from Sound? But then this room isn't what she would expect of Orochimaru's hideouts. He went for a more... clinical style. Unless this is just where they'd shoved her until she woke up.

Her clothes; torn and bloodied but mostly intact were the only thing she had. She'd removed everything notable back in the forest, most of which was probably still lying there filled with kunai holes. Most was replaceable but she mourned the loss of her sword, not that she expected it to be in the room with her. Everything else had also been taken off her body – her bead bracelets retrieved from the Valley of Hell, her shoes, even her hair tie; like she could do much with that.

Two approaching chakra signatures had her pushing herself unsteadily to her feet, weight leaning heavily on her uninjured leg. In no way did she look dignified, with her blood covered leg and her hair hanging loose in her eyes, but at least standing was less pathetic than sitting on the floor.

The door swung open and Akane swore internally as she was greeted with a half bandage covered face.

"Good evening Chinoike-san. It's good you finally woke up," Danzo's voice was stern even as his words gave the pretence of manners, "You are quite the lucky girl that my people found you before the Sound shinobi could take you away. It wouldn't do for you to fall into the hands of another village."

"I suppose you could see it that way." Akane replied warily.

"Ah but I _do_ see it that way. Such a promising young kunoichi should be honed by the right people to bring out her full potential don't you think?"

"I do. That's why I came to Konoha, to be part of the active shinobi. The _general_ ranks," Akane knew she wasn't being subtle but she wanted Danzo to know that she knew about his underground group, "I wouldn't want to be sequestered away by the wrong people."

"And indeed _Sound_ would be the _wrong_ people. But I can see that is not what you were implying. What is it that you have heard, girl?" Danzo's tone was getting heavier by the second.

"Not much. Just rumours, I'm sure," she hedged, "Though looking more like the truth right now I suppose."

"I told the Hokage we should keep a closer eye on you, barely a month here and you already know some rumours you shouldn't know. You've been prying where you shouldn't, haven't you?" he paused, "Well, no matter. It won't be long before you conform just the same a all the others. Hiruzen will just have to accept it."

Danzo turned to leave, the door slamming resolutely behind him. His chakra began to move away as two others took up post at her door. A wave of dizziness washed over Akane and she sat roughly down on the floor, pain arcing up her thigh.

 _Conform? Yeah fucking right_. She'd die before she became one of Danzo's emotionless drones.

She returned to her position of staring at the ceiling.

 _I hope Hidan isn't doing something dumb. He probably is though._

OOOO

 **A/N: So considering the other chapters all came out within days of each other and this one is months down the line... my bad. My attention span/interests go in waves.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: No part of Naruto is mine,**

OOOO

Hidan woke to find himself staring at a white ceiling, his arms and legs restrained tightly, leaving him sprawled out his back. His shirt had been removed and, much to his anger, his rosary was gone, instead as he looked down his body all he could see was a series of neat parallel cuts. Nothing particularly painful but they still stung. Turning his head to each side he saw that the room contained a few benches and equipment much as he'd seen in hospitals. A man was stood across the room, observing as he awoke, staring with unnerving inhuman looking eyes. Tensing in rage, Hidan began to pull at his bindings.

"What the fuck is this weird kinky shit you fucking freak! Where's Akane? I know you fucking have her somewhere."

"My, my what a mouth you have on you. I may have to do something about that," drawled Orochimaru, "I'm afraid your little girlfriend isn't here, though I'll admit that was originally the plan. But I got what I wanted anyway."

The slender man approached the boy on the table and looked closely at his stomach. Whilst the boy had been unconscious he'd made marks of different depths across the tanned skin. The most shallow of which had already healed and the deeper ones reduced to thin lines. Eyebrow raising slightly in curiosity, Orochimaru jotted down a note of the healing progress on his files.

Hidan struggled again, trying to get a better look around the room, seeing one door that lead out beyond his feet.

"You can glare at the door all you want, no one who walks through will be here to help you. Your two little friends outside should be quite _occupied_ by now." Orochimaru began to flick through reports sent by his Konoha spies, "My sources seem to be under the impression that you are as close to immortal as one can get. You have been seen taking on damage that should be deadly."

As he said this Orochimaru drew a knife from his long robe like clothes.

"I couldn't help but be intrigued." He plunged the knife down, swift and deep into Hidan's stomach, "I've never heard of such a bloodline before."

Hidan laughed at the pain as always, if this dude thought he'd be bothered by this he was so fucking wrong.

"It's not a fucking bloodline." he growled out.

Orochimaru was once again writing down the progress of the wound, this time in considerably more detail, prodding at the gash every so often. He said nothing for a couple minutes, watching as the wound sealed shut and only moving to avoid the blood that was beginning to drip down onto the floor. When the blood stopped flowing, the snake like man once again reached into his robes, this time drawing out a long chain, Hidan's rosary. He held it out over the boy's head, letting it swing mockingly over Hidans restrained form.

"You believe _this_ is where you powers came from, no?" he rasped, "I heard of the religion long go, tried many of it's rituals and I can assure you there is no power in it."

"You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about."

"I'm quite sure that I do."

"If it didn't work its cause Jashin-sama can tell you're a fucking fake."

Hidans word were met with another use of the knife, this time used to make a long deep slash through the middle of his torso. This time it really did hurt and Hidan laughed high and loud. A string of curses and calls out to Jashin to take this blood pouring from him rambled out of him. He didn't notice the door at the end of the room open and a young man hand a piece of paper to Orochimaru, casting a glance at Hidan that was filled with revulsion and fear. Reading the paper, Orochimaru looked back at the teen on his table.

"Well perhaps it is not a bloodline after all," he drawled, gesturing to the paper which contained Hidans very average blood test results, "No anomalies. So the healing must lie in your chakra."

Hidan gasped slightly as he regained proper awareness now the pain had died down.

"You can stab me all you want you _creep_ , you won't be given this _gift_ no matter how hard you beg Jashin-sama." Hidan growled, spitting as close to the freakish man's feet as he could from this angle.

He turned his head back to the ceiling. Akane was going to kick the shit out of him when she found him. She hadn't even been taken by this freak and he'd just waltzed right in like the dumb ass that she always said he was. The pain he could handle, but not knowing where she was was going to drive him crazy. At least she hadn't been caught by this psycho currently beginning to cut into his arms. Hidan closed his eyes and began to pray out loud to Jashin, reciting every verse he knew, broken by wild laughter each time the knife got too deep. The freak couldn't keep him here forever.

OOOO

The ANBU adjusted his grip on his kunai as he slunk through the shadows. Stealth was essential here as an all out fight so close to other Sound Village buildings would undoubtedly be heard. Then again, the rooms rapidly headed downwards, underground, so maybe sounds of a battle wouldn't go as far as they feared. He signalled to the others under his command as he spotted the next two enemies patrolling the corridors. Masked shadows fell onto the two Oto-nin who were quickly stifled into stillness and their bodies dragged through the nearest door.

The two men outside had been difficult to convince that the best action here was to let the ANBU team go in and get this done quietly. He didn't know their skills so he couldn't include them in plans with any ease. If he wasn't mid-mission, the ANBU would remove his Dog mask to run a hand exasperatedly down his face, trust the ex-Yuga nin to hit on his one weak point; leaving no man behind. The Hokage was going to give him extra missions for this one.

The four ninja continued down the corridors, heading deeper into the building. Most rooms were empty of anything save benches and beds, all looking like an under-equipped hospital. A slight tapping noise came from one ANBU's footsteps and Dog frowned; the newest on his team, Frog, clearly needed more training on being quiet when they got back to the Village.

A fisted hand in the air brought the group to a halt as the piercing sound of unstable laughter filled the hall. Frog shifted uneasily at the noise. Dog peered carefully down the next hallway to find two shinobi stood outside a door. The laughter broke and turned into a series of words that sounded like a prayer, loud and consistent. He signalled again and the group began to head to the door.

OOOO

"Damn, I hate just standing around like this!" Ryo paced uneasily in the tree line.

"We don't have much choice." Ginko replied from where he sat alert on a tree branch, his sword drawn on his lap, barely visible in the darkening evening.

"We should be the ones helping our own! We should have made them take us with them." Ryo paused his pacing to stare at the building where the ANBU team had entered not too long ago.

"You can speculate all you want, this is where we are."

"Do you always have to be so calm?" Ryo turned to glare up at Ginko, who stared back down at him.

"Do you always have to be so emotional?"

Ryo didn't reply, just huffed and returned to his pacing. He started in shock as Ginko was suddenly at his side, blade clanging loudly with another which was perfectly level with Ryo's throat. A man clad in purple was inches away and he'd never even heard him coming.

Ryo leapt back to get some space as Ginko heaved his katana to push the enemy back. Another three shinobi flickered into view, two on the ground and one on the branch Ginko had just vacated. Ryo glanced at Ginko who had succeeded in disengaging from his opponent and tilted his head slightly, receiving an instant small nod. They both flickered through hand signals and the enemies tensed readily. A burst of flame came from Ginko's mouth and water from Ryo's, crashing together to create a huge cloud of scalding steam which surrounded the enemies and shrouded the area. The darkness of the night mixed with the thick steam made the area almost impossible to navigate.

Ginko felt a presence to his right and swept low under an incoming sword. An angry face broke through the steam, skin red and raw. The enemy was clearly well practiced with the sword but they were young and Ginko had the advantage of experience. He'd almost gotten the upper hand when faint musical notes began to fill the air. Determinedly undistracted, Ginko managed to finish his opponent with a swift thrust through the stomach just as sudden dizziness and disorientation swept over him as the music sped up.

"Ginko!" Ryo shouted, spotting the man sway at the edge of his vision as he weaved around two opponents, "Genjutsu Ginko! It's -" he broke off as the Sound kunoichi's foot connected sharply with his stomach. His concentration of chakra to his ears that he'd started at the first musical notes he'd heard wavered slightly before he managed to straighten up.

Gritting his teeth in determination he flipped both his daggers into a reverse grip more suited to offensive attacks and pushed forwards. The kunoichi was good at evading his blows but the male enemy not so much. Gashes streaked the man's arms from where he'd resorted to blocking his more vital parts. Ryo smirked and aimed for the kunoichi instead. The Sound-nin who'd been hurt quickly began to bleed from his nose, his arms no longer moving at any speed and legs beginning to shake.

Ginko barely heard Ryo's shout, it registered slowly what the other man had said as he struggled to maintain his balance, the world spinning under his feet. What jolted him more was the large body that hit the ground in front of him, blood streaming from the orifices of his face. Recognition of the poison Ryo used on his blades drew Ginko to the reality around him, the battle that his partner was currently fighting alone. He placed his hands together, a little awkwardly when one still held his sword.

"Kai!"

The burst of chakra broke him out of the sickening dizziness and he could think clearly again. The second the genjutsu broke a kunai darted past his ear, into the nearest tree. The paper tag attached detonated and Ginko flung himself away enough to stop him being instantly killed but his back was burned. He gritted his teach at the searing pain and glanced up to see another shinobi standing in the trees, a Biwa resting against the tree trunk by his feet. Ginko darted forwards as another bomb tag was flung in his direction, sheathing his sword as he moved to leave his hands free.

Hand signs and a deep breath; exhaling into a long twisting snake of fire, Ginko kept a tight hold of his chakra as he pushed the jutsu forward, twisting it through the branches to force the Sound-ninja out of the trees and down to the ground. He was sure to catch the instrument the ninja had used for his genjutsu on the way with a trailing lick of flame. The fire snake wove around the area, keeping as close to the enemy as possible as Ginko pushed them to where he wanted them to be. Just as the Oto-nin was bringing up their own hands into the beginning of a sequence, a sharp blade broke through their throat and Ryo's face appeared at their shoulder. Ryo gave a cheeky smirk and a wink before yanking out his knife and letting the body drop to the ground.

Glancing to the side Ginko found that the kunoichi had met the same fate as the larger man, blood pooling around her head as she lay face down on the ground.

"We should get out of here before people come to investigate the noise," said Ryo, he gestured towards the building they'd be waiting outside, "Probably our best bet, right?"

OOOO

"It's been a wonderful couple of hours wouldn't you say Hidan-san?" rasped Orochimaru as a number of thuds sounded outside the door, "But I'm afraid I'm not quite in the mood for dealing with some Konoha weaklings right now."

The man was grabbing a number of files from around the room. The sounds outside had come to a halt.

"If they're weaklings why are you running you fucking coward." Hidan ground out, doig his best to ignore the intense feeling from both his shoulders.

"Priorities."

A clanging sound showed that there was a door behind Hidan that he had been unable to see from where he lay. A similar noise came from the other end of the room and Hidan did his best to look in that direction, even more difficult now as he had a new restraint around his throat as his arms were in no state to be restrained. In fact he could see both his arms lying on a small metal table to his left. An ANBU with a dog mask came into his line of vision. A retching noise was audible a little behind from one of the other ANBU.

"Thank fuck! Get these fucking ropes off!"

The Dog ANBU was quick to remove the restraints and Hidan let out a deep breath as he awkwardly sat up without the use of his arms. He glanced around and noticed three other ANBU searching the room, opening every drawer and cupboard. One, with some kind of ugly ass mask, maybe a frog?, was seemingly glancing at Hidan every few seconds. As he looked around Hidan was actually a little impressed with the amount of blood all over him, on the table he sat on and pooling all over the floor. He may not have been able to make a symbol with it but hopefully Jashin had heard his calls and accepted the blood.

"Any of you any good at sewing?" he nodded his head towards his arms, one which waved lazily. The Frog masked guy retched again, Dog made a mental note to toughen that newbie up as he began to search for some kind of needle and thread, luckily the room was equipped with such things.

As he held onto a detached, but somehow still moving arm which he was attempting to stitch onto a shoulder Dog wondered at how weird his job got sometimes.

OOOO

 **A/N: So it's probably not very realistic having Hidan rescued so easily and Orochi bailing out of there but I figured why not? A little gorier than usual...**


End file.
